


Yellow Acacia

by Zombie_ReiKitti



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anal Sex, Biting, Blood and Torture, Blood and Violence, Consensual Sex, Consent is Sexy, F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Konohagakure | Hidden Leaf Village, Kumogakure | Hidden Cloud Village, Language of Flowers, Multi, Office Sex, One Shot, Oral Sex, Sunagakure | Hidden Sand Village, Torture, Unreliable Narrator, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:08:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27324769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zombie_ReiKitti/pseuds/Zombie_ReiKitti
Summary: It was a one-time chance opportunity. She didn't regret it at all. (A chuunin stumbles into a tryst that'll change her life forever.)
Relationships: Nara Shikaku/OFC, Nara Shikaku/Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku/Yamanaka Inoichi/OC, Nara Shikaku/Yamanaka Inoichi/OFC, Threesome F/M/M - Relationship, background Shikamaru/Temari
Kudos: 29





	Yellow Acacia

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the reason I'm still sane during these crazy times. And it's Beta'd by my wonderful bestie. Please enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm just playing in this sandbox.

"Sir, I have a missiv-" I stopped and stared at my boss. Bosses. Both of them. I had heard the rumors that they were together, but I hadn't considered they were together-together. Especially in the office. Especially in Shikaku's office. Especially _right now_.

My main boss, Inoichi, currently had his hand wrapped around my other boss, Shikaku's cock. Shikaku's head was thrown back, baring his neck to Inoichi's lips. (And boy, was Inoichi sucking away on Shikaku's neck. He'd have bruises for days at this rate.)

Instead of running away, like I should have, I swiftly and quietly closed the door behind me and sat down on the office couch, then I watched my bosses jerk each other off (well, Shikaku was palming Inoichi's grand erection through his pants). I had always thought Inoichi's hands were large for a man, but seeing his fingers wrapped so delicately around Shikaku's cock made me realize that either Inoichi's hands were actually average-sized or Shikaku was quite well-endowed for a man. Both prospects sent a shiver through me.

A low growl came from Shikaku. "Inoichi! I need-!"

Inoichi's other hand smoothed Shikaku's hair back. "Shh! I know. I know, darling." His hands slunk down to his own pants and undid his belt, followed swiftly by undoing his pants. He freed his own aching cock before stepping forward and rubbing their two cocks together. It wasn't long before both men were groaning and moaning into each other's mouths. (I wasn't sure how much more of this I could stand - er, sit - to watch. My thighs were rubbing together without me realizing, and my breathing had changed into panting. _It's exactly like watching gay porn- that's exactly what this is! Only I can actually reach out and-_ )

My hand had outreached. It took only a second to gently rub Shikaku's cock tip (so velvety!) before I realized what I had done. I immediately froze, as did the two men. My eyes looked up towards Inoichi (no way was I gonna look at the man whose cock I just touched) only to see him blearily blinking down at me.

"Kagemane jutsu complete." Came a low growl next to me. (Well that explained why I couldn't move.) "Did you have something for me, Arashi?"

I gulped, nerves already messing with my composure.

"Well?" Shikaku prompted. Inoichi had the audacity to look amused.

"A-a-a m-missive for you, sir. I-it's on the couch, sir," I managed to squeak out. (Way to go on impressing them. Shit.)

Shikaku's eyes glanced away from me, to the couch behind me, and back to me again. If anything, he looked bored at having been caught red-handed with his lover. "It couldn't have waited?"

"U-um, no?" I ventured, finally pulling my eyes away from Inoichi and looking directly into Shikaku's fathomless pits of doom for eyes.

He motioned to the missive and suddenly, I could move again. (Must've released the jutsu.) I reached behind me, blindly, and grabbed the short missive. "Here, sir," I muttered as I held it out for him to take.

He wiped his hands off on his shirt (when did that get pushed up?) and took the missive. He quickly read it and then sighed.

"Do we need to reconvene, Shikaku?" Inoichi asked, stepping back and readying to put his cock back into his pants.

"No. This can wait," Shikaku quickly replied, grabbing Inoichi's hands, and pulling him closer. "You! Arashi." He glanced my way. "You can either leave or join us." Then he pulled Inoichi in for a searing kiss. (It seemed as though I hadn't just signed my death wish by interrupting these two. Though with that last comment, I wondered...)

I hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, prayed for guidance, bent down onto my knees, and slowly licked up the shaft of Inoichi's cock. The man jumped. Guess he hadn't expected that. It didn't occur to me that the two men had stopped kissing and were watching me instead, but I brought my hands closed around both of their cocks (one hand on each).

I started licking Inoichi's cock first. Ignoring the saltiness, I lavished his length with long strokes quickly followed by shorter licks. When Inoichi's hand tangled into my hair, I leaned back and admired my hard work. His erection bobbed a little in the air trying to find its way back into my mouth. Instead I turned my head to the side and did the same thing to Shikaku's cock (which tasted of a sweeter saltiness). When one of his hands also tangled into my hair (and entwined with Inoichi's), I paused and switched back to Inoichi's considerable length. This pattern of switching between the two continued while Shikaku and Inoichi kissed and sucked on each other's necks. (Quiet moans escaped my mouth while listening to their lips smacking on each other's skins.)

Distantly, I was aware of kisses being cut short only for shirts be taken off, and armor pushed out of the way. But it wasn't until hands were pulling me upwards that I realized I was the only one still fully dressed. Which was not what anyone wanted at that moment. While shrugging off my coat and quickly undoing the buttons on my uniform, Shikaku's lips found my own. The kiss was all tongue and teeth. It was rough- almost exactly how he had been kissing Inoichi before I had interrupted them. It made my head spin, and I happily reciprocated with just as much teeth nibbling on his bottom lip then sucking on where my teeth had bitten a little too hard (I sucked away the bead of blood that had appeared).

Inoichi helped undress me further; slowly pulling my uniform top off followed by pushing my under armor up and off. (It was a bit of a trick to not get caught in the shirts but somehow we managed it.) Next came the unbuttoning of my pants, and Inoichi's fingers lightly skimmed my legs as he pushed the pants down. I kicked them away from me in what I assumed was the direction of the door. Inoichi stood behind me and pushed me towards Shikaku- which worked out well since I was still attached to him via our conjoined lips. His hard cock was pushed into my waiting hands. I wrapped one hand around his length and started to stroke him, getting rougher each time I went up and down his shaft. My other hand reached behind me to Inoichi to grip his length in much the same manner as I had Shikaku's.

Fingers on my jaw turned my head away from Shikaku's lips and instead turned my face towards Inoichi's face. His kiss was just as searing as Shikaku's, but a tad more gentle. There was no accidental breaking of skin with Inoichi. (Not that I minded. Gentle or rough, these men knew how to kiss!)

A hand closed around one of mine and helped me stroke up and down the cock, twisting at the cock tip before pumping back down the shaft. I followed the silent instructions and began to pump the cocks in this new manner and soon had both men moaning soft "Arashi"s.

"Inoichi!" Shikaku panted, a low husky groan escaping him. Without responding to him, Inoichi broke the kiss between us then shifted behind me to the point where I could feel his erection prodding my right buttock.

"Arashi," Inoichi muttered, "may we come inside you?"

"Yes, please," I moaned out (had I mentioned how velvety these cocks were? What were they gonna feel like inside me?).

Shikaku stopped my hand from continuing its path down his cock and instead brought his cock closer to my folds. I was already slick with need. He slowly pushed himself into me- letting me get used to him. It was only when I nipped playfully at his shoulder that he started to pick up the pace.

Inoichi, meanwhile, was fondling my breasts. Subtle presses of his thumbs across my nipples. Every other pass he'd take the nipple between forefinger and thumb and twist the nipple. Gasping breaths left me quickly followed by breathy moans. One of his hands slowly caressed its way down my stomach then pressed down into my folds and circled my clit. I leaned back into him (which really only brought both Shikaku and I closer to him). He leaned down and pressed soft kisses against my neck. I shivered and moaned "Inoichi!" in appreciation.

Shikaku leaned forward and captured my lips again in another searing kiss (his tongue was skillful at caressing my tongue and his teeth were masterful in capturing my lips and nibbling on them).

Inoichi slowly trailed his other hand down my side and firmly gripped onto my right buttock. "I'm going to come into your ass," he whispered into my ear. A soft moan escaped my lips (that Shikaku totally kissed away).

He spread my buttocks apart and slowly, gently, pushed his cock into my asshole. It hurt and it stretched me to what felt like full capacity. I whimpered, not sure if this was supposed to feel good.

"Shh, it's going to be alright, Arashi," Inoichi reassured me. Shikaku's gentle kisses down my throat helped soothe me (and distract me from the aching pain). Inoichi waited for a few minutes, letting Shikaku set the pace. When it seemed like I had stopped whimpering and was instead moaning on each thrust, Inoichi pulled back and strongly pushed into me.

I had never felt so full and whole in my life. It was amazing how good it felt. With each thrust I felt how close each cock was to each other. Loudly moaning, I quickly grabbed onto the shoulders nearest me (Shikaku's) and rode out the thrusts both men were giving me.

I lost count of whose moans were whose- I only knew that with each thrust both men gave me, I moaned a little louder each time. It seemed as though my moans only spurned their moans as we all collectively grew louder the longer we continued. (How no one outside the office heard us was a question for another time.)

Shikaku came first. His face pulled tight and he grunted into my neck. Inoichi came shortly after that while biting the place where my shoulder met my neck. I was sure that by the end of this, I'd likely have some serious hickeys to cover-up (not that I was complaining; I was enjoying every second of this), not that I had bothered to bring any sort of make-up with me when I arrived at work this morning.

Inoichi stepped back and I felt his softening member leave my ass. I turned to look at him and gave him a small grateful smile. He smiled gently back. Shikaku, however, had a small smirk on his face when I turned around again to face him. He slowly pulled out his cock from my slick folds. (I swear his smirk only grew when I whimpered at the loss of him.) But his hand was there to push one finger between my folds while another finger circled my sensitive mound. With a gasp, I jerked. Again he rubbed my mound, and again I twitched. When he pushed his fingers more fully into my folds, I bit down on his shoulder to try to quiet my pleasure. He pumped his fingers into me and out again a few more times before my insides clenched together with such intensity that I let out a loud cry. (I didn't even know I could get that loud!)

"There you go, Arashi," he whispered into my ear. He circled my clit twice more before he let me go. Shivering in the after-effects of that orgasm, I watched his face morph into the most bedeviled smirk that would have put even the most evil of villains' smirks to shame. Even Inoichi had a smirk on his face when I turned to look at him (though it wasn't quite as snarky).

"T-t-thank you, sir," I told him, "for l-letting me join." Both men grinned at me.

"It was our pleasure, Arashi," Inoichi replied while gathering up his clothes. He walked around me, towards the door, bent over, picked up my clothing, then handed me my clothes as if he did this every day. He, then, walked over to Shikaku's desk and handed Shikaku his shirt. (Apparently _that_ had ended up by the door as well.)

While buttoning up my uniform top, I wondered if this had been a dream or if it really had been reality. It seemed too good to be true. And I was hesitant to say anything to break the after-glow of such a good fucking.

"Arashi, don't forget to take this note to Ibiki," Shikaku instructed. He apparently had no qualms speaking after such an event. Though I had most certainly forgotten why I had even come into this office in the first place.

"Y-yes sir." I grabbed the note from him and turned to leave. My hands were still shaking slightly.

"Oh. One more thing, before you go?"

I turned back towards him, raising a brow at him.

"Same time next month?" He was wearing a shit-eating grin this time. My face grew hot seeing such a thing. (Such a look on him made him seem roguishly handsome.) I nodded and quickly left the office. (A quiet "You don't have to scare her into coming back, Shikaku," was all I heard as the office door shut behind me.) I would definitely be coming back for more, if ever such an occasion rose again.

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"Arashi!" A loud voice called out to me from across the room.

Startingly, I looked up from my desk and blearily blinked up at Genma, who was now purposely striding towards me. "Eh?"

"Looks like someone's got a secret admirer," he smirked down at me when he reached my desk. He gestured over to a young man holding a medium sized bouquet of flowers. "Arashi's over here, kid."

The young man nodded and walked over. "These are for you, Arashi."

"O-0h! Um," I stuttered, glancing back down at my desk to see if I had any space open to put flowers. (I didn't.)

The young man handed the flowers over to me once I looked back at him. "Have a good day, ma'am." He saluted me then left with a bounce in his step.

"You gonna stare at those all day, Arashi?" Genma swished his senbon. "Oh, look! There's a card." He plucked the note from the flowers and read aloud, "'Thank you for the other day. Hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me.' Huh. What'd you do?" He flipped the note over and glanced at the back of it.

"Oh, you know, helped two bees get free," I retorted back, hoping he didn't read into that too much. Who knew what Genma would come up with. (I had a feeling I would find out soon enough.)

"Bees? You helped someone with their bees?" Genma stared at me, incomprehensively. (How that senbon stayed in his open mouth was beyond me.)

"Yes! Is that really so weird?" I asked, daring him to say something about it.

"It'd be less weird if the person you helped signed the card," he told me, holding the note hostage in front of my face.

"Yeah. Well, maybe it was weird for him?" When I tried to grab the note, Genma only tugged the note into the air above my head, taunting me with it.

"Oho, so it's a _him_." Genma smirked down at me again, fanning himself with the note.

"Ugh! Not like that!" I lied, pretty sure the flowers were from either Shikaku (who didn't seem the type) or Inoichi (who definitely seemed the type).

"You sure? Your face is all red, Arashi," Genma crowed.

"Ugh! Only because you keep pestering me!" I flapped my hand at him, gesturing for him to leave. He just laughed at me. Irritating man.

"What's going on here?" The dulcet tones of Inoichi's voice interrupted.

"Arashi's got a secret admirer," Genma happily shared. The git had no idea how to keep a secret. How he landed a job in T&I was beyond me.

"It's just a thank you for helping someone. Not a secret admirer, Genma," I defended myself. (Is it a secret admirer when you were pretty sure who had sent it?)

"This is a big bouquet for a simple thank you," Inoichi mused, leaning against my desk. (I did not check out the line of lithe muscle that position provided. I was not drooling.) "Usually someone says thank you with sweet peas or just a card."

Genma hmmed. "Well, there's a card here." He waved the note in his hand in the direction of Inoichi. "So what do daisies mean? Those are daises, right?"

Inoichi chuckled softly, crossing his arms in front of him. "Yes, those are daises."

Genma and I blinked at him, waiting for the explanation of what daises meant. Inoichi reached out and caressed some of the white petals. (I did not reminiscence about what else he had caressed a few days ago.)

"Well? What do daises mean?" Genma impatiently demanded, shifting from one foot to the other. His hands were fidgeting with the note now.

"Innocent love." Inoichi smirked. (He was doing this on purpose, probably. My eyes narrowed at him. But my heart did a funny little flop.) He pulled his hand back.

"See? I told you; a secret admirer," Genma gloated, patting my back. I felt the note digging into my neck. "So who is he?"

"Wait a minute! What do the other flowers mean?" I asked, desperate for a change of topic (no matter how small).

"I think a secret admirer is quite right, Arashi," Inoichi mused, a touch of amusement coloring his tone.

"Not you too!" I groaned, covering my face with my hands. (I swear Inoichi shrunk inwards a bit. Odd.)

"What makes you think this is a secret admirer, boss?" Genma asked, gently poking the largest flower with the note. "What even are these?"

"Those are irises. They symbolize hope. And the other flowers are daffodils. They mean new beginnings. Seems like someone is hopeful to start something with you, Arashi," Inoichi explained, watching me carefully.

"Whoa! All of this for just helping with some _bees_? Who'd you help? A hermit?" Genma exclaimed. Several heads around us lifted up and glanced over.

"Genma!" I hissed. My hands gestured for him to quiet it down. "Not so loud! Do you want the entire office to know about this?"

His answering grin did not reassure me. I was certain he was quite happy to share the news with everyone. Damn him.

"Genma! Interrogation room number seven! Use any means necessary!" Ibiki's voice boomed over the intercom.

"Have fun, Genma." I waved at him as he straightened. He dropped the note onto my desk without any fanfare.

"We'll continue this later, Arashi," he told me as he meandered his way down the hall. I could've sworn he put more sway into his hips as he walked away than he normally would've. Just who was he trying to show off for? (I discreetly glanced around but saw nothing out of place.)

I sighed. "Everyone's gonna know about this by the end of today, aren't they?" I whined, putting my face into my hands again.

"I suppose. I could bully him into staying quiet, but that'll just pique his interest even more," Inoichi mused aloud.

I turned around in my seat to peek up at him. There was something still hesitant about him. "I love getting flowers," I admitted quietly. Inoichi visibly perked up. He seemed taller as well (it just brought my attention to his lithe form of muscles- from his long legs to his abs to his chest to his arms. _How_ did he make himself look so damned attractive?).

"Oh?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Tulips are my favorite." I gently rubbed the petals of the daffodils. I turned my attention back to Inoichi. "They may not be tulips, but these are still quite lovely. Thank you." It was spoken quietly, a mere breath meant for his ears only.

"I'm glad you like them." His stare became more intense and his voice had a touch of huskiness. "I'll be sure to get you tulips next time."

Something in my chest grew warm and fuzzy. I smiled up at him. He returned the smile. Before either one of us could say anything else, a loud "Inoichi! Interrogation room number eight! Light use only!" came over the intercom. (Ibiki should not sound so damn smug over calling people to rooms.)

Inoichi sighed. "Well, that's me."

"Yeah." I muttered. I watched as he stood and began to walk away. "Hey!" I called out. His head turned and looked over his shoulder at me. One brow was raised. "See you next month?" (I was aware I was getting weird looks from around the office, but I doubted any of these people understood the reference. I was really hoping he remembered what Shikaku had said to me what felt like years ago even though it had only been a few days.)

Inoichi's lips pulled back into a sexy smirk. He nodded at me and repeated, "See you next month." Then he turned around and swaggered out into the hall. (I did not drool over watching his ass. It was a really _fine ass_.)

The shinobi sitting at the desk next to me turned to me and grinned. "Bees, huh?"

I ducked my head to hide my flaming cheeks at his suggestive tone. "Yeah. Bees."

The resultant chuckles around the office did not help my cheeks lessen in redness. "At least he's good looking" was the first general consensus of the office. "Poor Genma- he's not going to believe this" was the second general consensus of the office. And the third consensus was "At least, he's single." (I figured I should count my blessings that no one had any issues with me getting something on with our boss.)

I groaned quietly at my desk. There was no way this was going to stay a secret for long- not with this crowd. But at least the flowers were beautiful. I smiled softly to myself. " _Innocent love, hope, and new beginnings, huh? Hoping for a new beginning and love? How sweet._ " I thought to myself as I cleared a spot on my desk to place the vase of flowers down.

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It was the day he'd had a small bouquet of flowers delivered that she received a mission and was called out into the field. " _Fine. She'll see these when she gets back,"_ he told himself, convinced her mission would only last a few days as per usual. But when the days turned into a week, then another week, he realized something was wrong. The next day, the notice came around the office.

MIA. Missing-in-action. He stared at the notice. This definitely counted as something being wrong. His stare shifted down to the flowers in his hands. She'd likely never see them now. How... ironic. His feet turned and walked him to her desk. Already there were 'Come home soon' cards scattered on her desk. His hands removed the old bouquet of flowers and inserted the new bouquet. His fingers lingered on the small yellow blossoms. Tears welled up in his eyes. She'd likely never see these- she'd never know their meaning. Knowing how off-balanced he'd become, he tore himself away. He staggered his way towards his office for some much needed space. (No one paid any mind to the tears trailing down his cheeks.)

The yellow acacias swayed lightly in the air conditioning.

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It was supposed to be easy. Straight-forward even. But no. Somewhere our information went sideways. Which meant the mission was a disaster. I had no idea where my teammates were, much less which direction we were supposed to go in. (Somehow I got turned around. Which way was north again?)

"Gyaahhh!" A kunai grazed my calf. The burning started soon after. Probably poison. " _Fuck! How am I supposed to get out of this one?!_ " I thought to myself while trying to come up with a plan. No teammates. No sense of direction. Now poisoned. I was royally fucked.

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"Ugghnnn...!" I jolted awake. " _Ohhh, fuck! That hurts! Wh-what's going on?"_ I blinked. Everything was... fuzzy. I could see but everything was almost an abstract watercolor. Was that a person in front of me? What were they doing?

"Gnnhyaaa!" I cried. " _Son of a bitch that hurts!"_ Whatever that was, it definitely wasn't friendly. I cringed when what looked like the person's arm came slashing down again. I cried out again.

"Good, she's waking up," a voice said from behind me. " _There's someone behind me? Just how many are there? ... Ugh, why can't I see?_!" I wondered, trying to keep both people in my eye sight (not that it helped any. Abstract watercolor made it difficult to determine what was person and what was... forest? This was hurting my head just thinking about it).

"Well, sweetheart, it's about time you answered some of our questions," the one directly in front of me said. It sounded almost like a sneer. "First up: how... did... you... find... us?!" Each word was punctuated with a punch to my gut. He pulled me up by the collar of my uniform. "Well?!"

I figured his face was right in front of mine and quickly decided that I would be better off if I didn't answer a single thing. But I needed to do something before he punched me again. I opened my mouth and spat in his face. (Probably should've thought that one out more.)

He reared back with a disgusted cry. He dropped me, at least, so I wasn't hanging by my collar anymore.

I forgot to take into account the man behind me. His face came up right beside mine. "Bitch," he whispered into my ear. A sharp pain came across my throat- did he-? Did he really just slice across my neck?! (This prompted a memory of Ibiki teaching us about torture techniques; this was a basic rudimentary technique to scare someone into admitting things. It hadn't seemed like a real thing back then, but now... now I was reconsidering it.)

"We'll keep slicing you until you answer, bitch," he continued to whisper into my ear. The blurry figure in front of me came up to me again.

"And we'll get more and more creative the longer you take to answer," he told me, holding his arm up. It looked like... was that a bat in his hand? Squinting did nothing to make it clearer. (Didn't they say they'd stick to _slicing_?! Why the hell were they not sticking to that?!)

The first swing hit my stomach. The second hit my left shoulder. The third hit my head. The pain was a intense throbbing. (I may have lost some time at this point.)

When I became aware again, I realized I had slices and gashes all across my torso. My uniform top had been removed at some point and my under armor shirt was ripped to shreds. Blood had soaked through my uniform pants- especially on my knees. (What had they done to me?)

"Where are you from?" Came the next question I was coherent for. Which, actually brought up a good point. I'd had my hitae-ate on my forehead when I left the village, but now that it had been brought to my attention, I was no longer wearing it. Where had it gone?

The bat swung down onto my thigh. "Hyaaaaahhh!" If that hadn't broken something, I'd be surprised. That now meant that running away from these bastards would be inadvisable. Fuck.

"Answer the question, bitch!" Another swing into my gut. Without pause, yet another swing came across my head.

" _These men didn't really know how to torture someone properly, did they_?" was my last thought before everything went dark again.

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"-ere," sounded much too close for my liking. Blinking, there was what appeared to be a head right in front of me. It wasn't as blurry as before though it looked like white hair from my point of view. (Maybe the poison was wearing off? If it even was poison.)

"She's waking up," came from behind us to the right.

"Think she'll be up to answering some of our questions?" came from behind us to the left. (" _There were more of them?!"_ I thought belatedly.)

"Let's stop and find out," the head in front of me replied just as the swaying motion underneath me stopped.

The two people behind us stopped next to us. The one to the right was a dark-skinned woman with bright red hair. The one to the left was a dark-skinned young man with white hair. I couldn't see any hitae-ate on them but I had only seen such colorings in photos. _Kumo-nin_. This... this wasn't looking good for me. (I decided right then to never mention I was from Konoha. I would not betray my home just to receive whatever aid came from Kumo-nin.)

The man carrying me slowly dropped me to the ground, being as gentle as he could not to jostle my injuries.

"We'll start simple; who are you?" The woman asked, crouching down in front of me.

"M-M-Mai," I whimpered, slumping over my thigh. Someone had splinted it. It was good first aid, in my opinion. There was a bandage over my shoulder and my torso had been wrapped. What was left of my shirt barely covered my breasts. My pants had been ripped into shorts and my shoes were suspiciously missing. (At least I didn't look like a shinobi, so I had that going for me.)

"Where are you from, Mai?" The woman continued. I knew I had to divert attention away from Konoha, so I chose the next country over.

"Ame," I told her. "On the northern border."

"Hmmm." She mused, looking up at her teammates.

"What were you doing way out here?" The man who had carried me asked. He also had white hair, but he wasn't as dark-skinned as the other man.

"I-I-I was going to market to buy m-mama a gift for her birthday," I started. "But... everything's fuzzy. I-I-I can't- w-w-hat..." I paused for dramatic effect. Then I peered up at them with tears in my eyes. "W-w-what happened to m-me?"

The three Kumo-nin looked at each other. The darker skinned man signed something to the other two, but I hadn't studied Kumo signs so I had no idea what they were saying. Silence prevailed for a few minutes while they worked out whatever it was. Suddenly, the woman sighed.

"We found you and one other tied to the rocks." Another glance happened between the teammates. "She was older. She didn't make it."

I blinked up at them. It took me a minute to realize they were giving me a cover to work with even if they didn't know it. I grabbed onto it and decided to run with it.

"M-mama always had a scar on her cheek," I told them, thinking of one of my teammates. I was hoping it wasn't her, but I wasn't very optimistic about it.

The Kumo-nin glanced at each other again. "We're sorry for your loss, Mai," the woman gently told me. "Would you like to come with us to Kumo? We can heal you and give you a new life."

I stared at them. Was it really so simple? Just like that? No suspicious questions- no suspicious glares? I was dumbfounded. (This was too easy, my gut seemed to be telling me.) I nodded at them and hoped it wasn't too enthusiastic.

"Okay. Kumo is only another day from here. Are you comfortable being carried?" The woman asked. Instead of verbally answering, I just nodded. The lighter skinned man bent down in front of me and gestured to his back. Nodding, I carefully climbed onto his back. When I got all settled, he stood back up.

"My name's Gui. That's C," he pointed to the other man, "and that's Hui," he pointed to the woman. "For what it's worth, welcome to Kumo."

I nodded again and said nothing more as we sped our way out to Kumo. (This was going to be troublesome, wasn't it?)

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The internal bleeding took two months to fully heal while it took six months for my broken femur to heal. (Not that it healed all the way. I now had a limp.) They told me that it was a good thing that I wasn't a shinobi because otherwise my career would be over. (Wasn't that just peachy.) Since I was keeping to my civilian cover, I decided it was high time to get a job somewhere. Unfortunately, there weren't many choices for someone with a limp.

But C came to my rescue one night. He'd said it was a popular rite of passage in Kumo. Tattoos. When we walked into the parlor of C's choice and I saw all the different choices available, I was floored. This. This was something I could still do, if only the artist would allow me to apprentice under them. Thankfully, Huini was more than happy to take me on as an apprentice.

C was my first client. He'd wanted a small phoenix on his calf. Both Huini and C were satisfied with my work, though I thought I could've done better if only I'd had more time to practice. But I soon learned that client approval meant more than my own. So I continued to tattoo clients and practice in between sessions.

About halfway into the twelfth month I had been in Kumo, Huini called me into his office.

"Mai," he said. "How would you like to open up your own shop?"

I stared at him in disbelief. There was no way he was serious, right?

"I-I'd be honored, sir!" I honestly replied, already thinking of where in Kumo would be a good place to set up shop. The plateau or on one of the cliffs?

"There's an building opening in Suna that'd be perfect for us to expand into," Huini explained. "There's a small flat above the shop so you wouldn't have to travel far to get home."

"I- that's very thoughtful of you, thank you, sir." I smiled at him.

"Good. You leave in a week. I've arranged for a squad of shinobi to accompany you and help purchase the property. I believe the hot sun will be good air for you. Good luck, Mai." He patted my shoulder before shuffling into his side of the parlor. I stared after him. A week to get ready to leave? And to leave to Suna? Just what were the chances of that? (My stomach flopped at the thought of being so close to home- maybe, if I was lucky, I could expand to Konoha?)

It took me all week to pack everything together. I quickly hugged Huini before following the squad of shinobi (C managed to get onto the team so I wasn't alone with strangers) out through the gates. I was beyond ready to leave Kumo behind me. Now onto my next adventure: Suna.

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"That should cover everything, Mai," C told me, handing over a small golden key. "Good luck. Hopefully the people of Suna enjoy tattoos as much as us Kumors."

I nodded. "Hopefully." I hugged him just before he stepped away. The rest of his team were waiting by the eastern gate, giving us some time before they had to leave. "Will you visit?"

"I'll be honest; it doesn't look like we'll have many missions out this way," C explained. My shoulders slumped. I liked C. He was the nicest Kumor I had met thus far.

"I see. Have a safe trip back home, C." I gave him one last hug before stepping away.

"Thanks." He waved as he walked away.

I turned around and stared up at the building in front of me. It was a simple two-story establishment. A small shop area was on the first floor with a small apartment on the second floor. There was a small area in the front for what appeared to be a garden, but whatever had been there before was now all withered and dead. That wasn't a good omen, if there ever was one. I sighed. "Well, here's to hoping this goes better than expected."

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I tried planting some friendly petunias in the garden area out front, but currently most of them were wilting. Seven months in Suna and I was barely scraping by. Apparently not that many people wanted tattoos here. I was beginning to wonder why Huini-san thought this would be a good endeavor.

I was standing in line at the nursery. Maybe it was time to change the petunias to something else. Something more Suna-y. Currently I held three different succulents and was debating grabbing one of those smaller ones lining the checkout aisle.

"Those require shade," intoned a voice from behind me. Startling, I jumped aside.

"Eh?" Was my eloquent response.

"The ones you were eyeing; they require shade." He repeated. He was short and had bright red hair. He had what appeared to be a tattoo on his forehead. (Odd placement for a tattoo but if he was open to tattoos maybe I could convince him to visit my parlor.)

"Oh! Um. Thank you?" I hesitated, not sure how I was supposed to respond to this stranger. He nodded at me and went silent. I glanced down at my full hands.

"Do these require shade? 'Cause I was planning on planting them outside," I explained, a bit deprived of socializing. It had been weeks since my last client and I didn't really have any friends here.

"No. They'll do well in the hot sun," he reassured me. "Water them once a week and they'll thrive."

I nodded my thanks and turned back around to step forward in line. After I was done paying for the plants, I paused, considered it, and turned around to face him again. "Do you want another tattoo? I could give you a discount. As thanks," I offered. He blinked once. Then twice.

"Tattoo?" He asked wonderingly.

"Mhmm," I nodded. "I own a tattoo parlor just off the square there." I pointed to my parlor just across the square from us. "So, what do you say? Tattoo or no?"

He blinked again, then shook his head no. My shoulders slumped a bit. "My brother. He might get one." He seemed as surprised as me after he said it.

"Oh! Well give him my card," I handed him a small business card I had in my pocket after juggling the plants around a bit. "And send him my way." I smiled at him.

He nodded then breezed by me to walk off. He was a bit stand-offish, if I was being honest. But I hoped he would make good on that offer. I really needed to make something this week if I wanted to continue to eat.

I walked as fast as I could to get out of the heat. (Okay, when I say walk, I really mean limped. And slowly. It was more of a limping shuffle than anything.)

Coming up to the garden, I leaned down and placed the succulents down on the sidewalk. Pulling on the garden gloves, I picked up a nearby small shovel and began loosening the dirt. Afterwards, I dug three holes. First I planted what I suspected was a cousin of aloe- it looked similarly. Then I planted what looked to be plant-esque stones. And finally I planted a large succulent rose thing. So far they looked good. Now to remember: Only to water them _once_ a week. I'd need to set a reminder if only so that I don't drown them.

Standing, I stretched. My right thigh ached something fierce. Twisting around, I gazed up at the sky. No clouds in sight. And yet, my leg only ached like this when rain was coming. Sighing, I slouched over. " _Maybe I'll water them after it rains,_ " I silently mused to myself, glancing at the skies again. "Troublesome."

"Hey! Need help?"

I glanced over at the sidewalk to see a young man standing there. He wore all black and... were those cat ears? I blinked at him. He walked closer.

"Let's get you inside, yeah?" He offered me an arm. Hesitating, I slowly gripped it. "Must be tough. With that leg, I mean."

I nodded slowly as we shuffled towards the door of my parlor. It, thankfully, wasn't far. "It'll be nice to get out of the heat."

"Yeah. Even us native Sunans get tired of the heat." He cheerfully told me. "Want to know a secret?"

"What?"

"The more clothes you wear, the cooler you will be."

"What?" I asked, aghast. "That makes no sense!"

"But it's true." He didn't look like he was bullshitting me, but it was difficult when dealing with shinobi. "You must be that Kumor. I heard we got one of 'em in town." He checked me out then. A quick perusal of his eyes. I wondered what he thought when he looked at me. (Did he see civilian or shinobi?)

"Is that a problem?" I straightened off of his arm and leaned against the front desk.

"Haha! Nah, you seem alright," he told me. "How'd that happen?" He gestured to my leg. The faint scars covering it were on full display (I knew I'd regret wearing shorts today). Funnily enough the scars weren't related to the break that'd happened. But those bastards hadn't stopped at breaking my leg- they had figured covering it in cuts and gashes would help me talk or some shit like that. Now I had scars to show that I never said a word.

"Oh. Those." I monotoned. I shrugged.

"Really? Not gonna share?" He stared. "What if I get a tattoo?"

"You'll really get a tattoo if I tell you?" I eyed him, scrutinizing him. "Can you even pay for it?" His black jumpsuit looked like it'd seen better days. It was all scuffed up, and there was even a recently sewn up tear in the left sleeve.

"I'll even pay for it," he sneered. (Rude.)

Huffing, I pulled the curtains surrounding the back area aside. "Well, sit down and pick something out." I handed him the portfolio of selections he could choose from, in case he didn't want something custom.

"Got any suggestions?" He sat then peered over the portfolio, stopping somewhere in the middle.

I limped behind him, checking what had caught his attention. "Scorpions?"

He flinched. "Maybe not."

"Why not? They're feisty."

"Red Scorpion's been taken already."

I blinked. It sounded like there was a story behind this. "Something else then? I can do your squad name or division symbol, if you want."

"That'd be no good. What if I get captured? They'd know for sure what to ask if I did that."

"Oh. I... I didn't think of that. Um. Is there anything else that means something to you?" I asked, feeling appropriately scolded for my lack of pre-thought. Ibiki would have my head if he knew I had just offered someone an identifying feature to a friendly. Or he would pat me on the back for suggesting someone get an identifying feature. It was always difficult to tell with that man.

"Well. There is one thing. But you're gonna laugh at me," he muttered.

"Try me," I challenged, moving around him to get everything set up properly.

"'Family.'" He said. "Just the word, though. But not obvious about it?" He seemed unsure, rubbing his left shoulder with his right hand.

"Hmmm... yeah, I think I can do that. Flip to page thirty-seven for different font types." I told him. "And what color do you want it in? Black? Blue? Purple to match your face?"

"Just black, please." He flipped over to the fonts and hmmed. "How about this one?" He pointed to one of the graffiti type fonts.

"Sure thing. You got it." I grinned. "Now, where do you want it?"

He pulled down his hood to reveal soft brown hair, then pulled off his top. It left him in his sleeveless under armor. "Here, on my shoulder." He pointed to his left shoulder. Exactly where he had been rubbing it earlier.

"Excellent. Let's get started." I brought out some tracing paper and quickly sketched out the design. "This look good to you?"

He nodded.

"Fantastic," I said as I pulled on some gloves and started up the inking pen.

It was quiet while I began. Actually it was quiet until I starting inking in the 'i'.

"You gonna tell me how you got those scars?" He asked quietly.

I had been hoping he had forgotten that. "Yeah," I sighed. "Got caught by some bastards. Thought it was a good idea to ask questions with a knife or something. I don't... uh... I don't really remember what happened exactly."

"That bad? What'd they want?" He asked me, at first surprised then resigned.

"Dunno."

"You don't know?! How the hell do you not know?!" He gestured wildly with the arm not being tattooed.

"They never said. At least not that I remember." I grunted, leaning back to avoid making a mistake.

"What? Kumo never investigated it?" He scoffed. I was fairly sure he was annoyed with Kumo rather than with me.

"If they did, they never mentioned it to me." I shrugged, taking a small break from inking.

"Why not?" Now he seemed genuinely interested.

"Probably because I'm just some no name civilian from Ame." I bit back. This wasn't my favorite topic, for obvious reasons. (Or at least I thought it was obvious. Who, besides Ibiki and Anko, actually liked talking about torture?)

"What?" He turned sharply to look at me. "Are you- Are you serious?!"

I nodded, getting back into the groove of inking. Soon I finished the 'i', then moved onto finishing the 'l'. It was quiet from then on.

"It must be hard." He suddenly murmured.

"Hm?" My eyes flicked up to his eyes quickly. They were cast downwards, hooded.

"Going from Ame to Kumo to Suna. That must've been a hard change." His eyes caught mine. They were dark. (Reminded me of some other fathomless pits of doom. _"Stop. Don't think about that."_ )

"Yeah. Sometimes I miss the rain more than I like the sun," I admitted quietly. "But with this leg, it makes it hard to enjoy the rain like I used to."

"Hmmm..." He hummed. He glanced down at his arm. I was just finishing up the last touches on the 'y'. "We could get a sprinkler and have fake rain."

"You... You would do that for me?" I blinked back my shock. " _Why would he do that for me? What does he have to gain from this?_ " I wondered to myself.

"Well... I just figured since you really come from Ame that you might not have many friends here and I thought you'd like to have one. Have me. If you want." He stumbled on his words a bit. His cheeks had pinked a little. It clashed horribly with his purple face paint.

"I..." I paused, really thinking about it. "I'd like that. Thank you."

"It's nothin'." He blushed even further. I giggled at him.

"Well, first things first. This baby is done!" I smiled widely. "Now to pay up!"

"What?! Don't friends get discounts?" He whined pitifully. He gathered his discarded clothing in one hand.

"Nope! I gotta eat sometime! Now pay up! Or I'll... Um... I'll get the Kazekage involved!" I threatened.

"Ugh! Nooo! He'd really make me pay!" He further whined, but he pulled out his wallet. "Ugh! Fine. How much?"

Grinning, I told him the total to which he gasped in shock and begrudgingly paid. I nearly had him out the door before remembering that I still didn't have his name. (What kind of interrogator was I if I had forgotten this simple question?!)

"Kankuro," he told me plainly when I had asked. It was almost as if he was waiting for me to start flailing onto him or something.

"Oh. Well, hello Kankuro," I greeted. "I hope you have a good rest of the day."

"Yeah, you too." He turned to go, then paused. "Wait. What's your name?"

"Mai," I giggled. I noticed I wasn't the only one who forgot to ask such a question.

He smiled and gave me a small wave. "See you around, Mai!"

I really hoped he was honest about wanting to be friends. I was getting rather lonely without anyone around to pester. And I hoped with this, he would spread the word around and I'd get more clients. A girl could dream.

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Being friends with Kankuro did pay off; several of his other friends paid my parlor a visit and left with tattoos. Most tattoos were of flora from the area mixed with skulls. It was definitely interesting to see what each person wanted, and what they were satisfied with. (I always felt like I could've done better, but each client left happily.)

Soon, five months since the day I met Kankuro passed. I was outside watering the succulents in my small garden when the summons to the Kazekage's office came. Curious, I quickly locked up my parlor, then followed the Suna Anbu to the Kazekage's office. I was understandably nervous about meeting with the Kazekage. I'd never met him, even through all these months of residing in Suna.

When we arrived at the office, the Anbu knocked then pushed open the office door. Hesitating for a second, I followed the Anbu into the office. It was more spacious than it looked on the outside. There was one stack of paperwork off to one side of the desk, but otherwise the desk was clear.

The man sitting behind the desk was one I had met before. Just once. I gasped as I figured it out. This was the man who'd helped me in the nursery all those months ago! The cute redhead with the tattoo on his forehead! I nearly smacked myself for not putting it together sooner. Thankfully, he and his Anbu agent ignored my surprise.

"The Chuunin Exams are being held in Konohagakure. I and a select few will be traveling to Konoha to watch the proceedings while a few teams of ours will be participating in the Exams. Several businesses will be sending a caravan to sell their wares while the Exams are in session. This would be a good time to see if you could expand to Konoha," the Kazekage began. "What do you say?"

I stared at him. It sounded like he'd already made up his mind about what I would do. Not that I was disagreeing with him, of course. I was actually quite excited that _finally_ I had a legitimate reason for going to Konoha. _Finally_ I could go home. "Yes, I will go with you!" I tried to keep my excitement to an understandable amount. I didn't want to seem too eager.

The Kazekage nodded. "We will add you to our numbers. Will you require a shinobi escort?" He pulled a small stack of papers in front of him before looking up at me.

"Yes. I wouldn't want anyone to steal away any of my inks." I informed him. "I can only afford a C-rank."

He nodded, stamped one of the papers, and shuffled the papers together. "You will be guarded by one of the participating teams. They will guard you to and from the Exams."

I nodded, not knowing how else to respond.

"We leave in one week. Please be ready with everything you will need for the journey and the time spent in Konoha." He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. I bowed my thanks then turned and left.

" _Finally, I'm going home!_ " I squealed silently to myself, very nearly jumping up and down in joy.

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_"Did you have any illicit affairs outside of your marriage?" The divorce lawyer asked._

_Shikaku shifted from one foot to another. "Please rephrase the question."_

_The lawyer sighed. "Did you participate in any relationships besides the marriage with your wife?"_

_"Yes."_

_"With whom did these affairs happen?"_

_"Yamanaka Inoichi."_

_"Did you have any affairs with anyone else?"_

_Shikaku sighed, knowing he'd been caught. "Yes."_

_Yoshino's eyes narrowed as she watched Shikaku carefully._

_"With whom did you have this affair with?"_

_"...Arashi." Shikaku muttered._

_"Which Arashi?"_

_"The one from the office."_

_Yoshino's eyes closed tightly. She knew the one. Younger, more youthful looking, beautiful. She'd yet had any wrinkles- barely had any laugh lines. "So that's the type of woman Shikaku wants." She thought to herself, already regretting ferreting out the truth._

_"And how many times did you have an affair with her?"_

_"Please rephrase the question."_

_"How many times did you have sex with Arashi?" The lawyer pointedly asked._

_"Once."_

_The lawyer blinked in shock. "Just the once?"_

_"Only the once." Shikaku confirmed. "If you don't believe me, just ask Inoichi. He was there-" He cut himself off. He had not meant to mention that. Now everyone would know he'd had an illicit threesome... and it'd be the cause of his divorce. Dammit!_

_"So you're admitting that you not only have had sex with Inoichi, but have had sex with Inoichi and this Arashi? At the same time?" The lawyer went in for the kill with that question._

_"...yes," Shikaku whispered._

_"Well, there you have it, Your Honor. He admits to having illicit affairs while still lawfully married." The lawyer smugly announced._

_"Yes, I did hear it myself. Nara Shikaku, I am hereby nullifying and voiding your marriage to Nara Yoshino on grounds of infidelity. Effective immediately." The judge declared._

Yoshino shook herself out of the memory. "No use moping after that jackass. I doubt he's even all that torn up about it!" She muttered to herself while trying to motivate herself to move all her boxes out of the house they had shared for so many years. As expected, Shikaku was nowhere to be found - probably hitting it up with Inoichi again - so she had the house to herself while she packed what was hers. "If only that Arashi girl hadn't existed maybe Shikaku would've stayed faithful?" She mused aloud quietly. "No, wait, there's still Inoichi. That doesn't explain Inoichi at all. Dammit!" Tears were silently rolling down her cheeks. "That stupid, stupid asshole! Was I not good enough?!"

Surrounded by half-packed boxes and with her shirt twisted in her hand, Yoshino slumped over and wept out her feelings into the empty house.

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"If you need some time after-" Inoichi began, stroking Shikaku's hair back away from his face.

"I'm fine," Shikaku reassured, nuzzling his face into Inoichi's neck.

"Are you-" Inoichi started.

"I'm sure." Shikaku muttered just under Inoichi's ear.

Inoichi paused. "What do you need?"

"Stay with me?"

"Always." Inoichi's arms wrapped around Shikaku and brought him closer as they snuggled in bed.

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He sighed, running his hands through his dark tresses. He was officially single again. He peered down to his side where Inoichi was slumbering. His long hair was tangled on the pillow. "Beautiful," he whispered.

There was no answer, of course, but Shikaku felt better having said it. He couldn't remember the time when he first thought it. But he knew that was the moment he started to turn away from his wife. Now ex-wife. He sighed again.

He never thought she'd push for divorce. She hadn't before in all the years he and Inoichi had been dallying together. But it was uncanny how soon after the dalliance with Arashi that his wife was suddenly filing for divorce- it was almost like she knew he'd had a woman lover too. He wondered at that; how had she known? Was it woman intuition? Had he missed something while he was cleaning up? Whatever it was, it had tipped her off. And now he was single. Well, as single as he'd get with Inoichi at his side.

"This is so troublesome," he muttered, staring down at his hands. He regretted hurting his ex-wife, but he couldn't bring himself to regret what he had with Inoichi. (Nor did he regret his affair with Arashi.) But he should've handled it better- should've told Yoshino about his loss of interest in her and about his feelings towards his coworkers. Now she wouldn't even talk to him unless it was to call him an asshole. He figured he'd deserved that at least.

His muscles protested as he got to his feet. He walked to the bathroom across the hall. He didn't have the heart to sleep in his old bedroom- the one he'd shared with Yoshino. So he was staying in the unused guest bedroom. The house felt even emptier than usual. He'd noticed several knick-knacks that had been around the house since forever were suddenly (or not so suddenly) missing. It made it all the more apparent how much Yoshino had put into decorating the house. It really was quite empty without her here.

He sighed, turning on the tap. He splashed water on his face before staring into the mirror. He was a mess, he knew. Sighing (yet again), he pushed the wet strands of hair stuck to his forehead back away from his face.

"Hey," came the quiet greeting from the open doorway. He'd forgotten to close the door again. His eyes slowly trailed over to his lover. He didn't say anything back to Inoichi, but that didn't stop Inoichi from wrapping his arms around Shikaku's waist. "Come back to bed?"

Shikaku nodded and felt himself be pulled away out of the bathroom and back into the guest bedroom. He said nothing as Inoichi tugged his body down into the bed with him. And he said nothing as Inoichi snuggled around Shikaku. He closed his eyes and tried to pretend that Yoshino's hate for him didn't hurt, and he pretended that this empty house wasn't as lonely as it seemed. At that moment, Inoichi's hands caressed his cheeks and wiped away the moisture that had been gathering there. Shikaku was reminded that he wasn't as alone as he had begun to think as he nuzzled into Inoichi's hands.

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The morning sun shone brightly into the room. Inoichi squinted his eyes open. Shikaku's sleeping face greeted his sight. He looked so peaceful in his slumber. As though he had no worries. Inoichi caressed his cheek. It was scruffy with day-old stubble. Inoichi didn't mind it; he thought it made Shikaku even more handsome. He couldn't believe his luck in finding a lover in Shikaku. But it irked him that he had already been married.

He knew he should've been upset with Yoshino for divorcing his lover, but if he was being honest, he was glad they had finally split ways. No longer did he have to sneak around to see his lover. No longer did he have to pretend to just be friends. And no longer did he have to pretend to like Yoshino. Yes, she was a good wife and a good mother. Yes, she knew how to manage a household and keep it from falling apart. But Inoichi always thought a marriage should be more than just that. Inoichi was part of the opinion that love should feature in marriage, and Yoshino and Shikaku's marriage was lacking in that department. (It had been lacking for years. Inoichi didn't know how Shikaku managed that. It would've driven Inoichi spare if it had been him.) So he was quite happy that they had divorced.

He only wished Arashi was there to enjoy the spoils of the divorce with him. She wouldn't have needed to sneak around to see either him or Shikaku for anything not work related. And she wouldn't have needed to go to unnecessary heights to be with them. But, as it were, she was dead. He pretended that didn't hurt as much as it did. (He missed her- missed her hands and how skilled she was at stroking him. Missed her tongue and how wicked it was at bringing him to pleasurable heights. Missed her cheeky smile- how she lit up anytime he walked into the room or engaged her into conversation. He missed her terribly. It hurt something fierce knowing he'd never have another chance at gaining her attention.)

He fought back a sob. She wasn't here to help soothe him. The tightness in his chest grew and he fought to be quiet so he wouldn't wake Shikaku. Which was for naught because next thing he knew, Shikaku was rubbing his back and murmuring sweet nothings into his ear.

"I'm sorry," Inoichi murmured, wiping his tears off his cheeks.

"It's okay," Shikaku whispered. "We'll get through this."

Inoichi wondered if Shikaku knew what he was thinking, then figured it didn't matter. He knew they'd get through it together- just like they got through anything. Even divorces. "I'm glad you're here with me, Shikaku."

"Me too," Shikaku mumbled into Inoichi's ear. His hands continued rubbing up and down Inoichi's back.

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"She's gone, Inoichi. She's not coming back," Genma said, trying to convince Inoichi to stop his ritual of placing flowers on Arashi's desk.

"Even if-" Inoichi's voice hitched, "Even if she's no longer here, that doesn't mean she won't see them in the afterlife." Inoichi's head was lowered.

"I didn't know you believed in life after death," Genma muttered.

"I didn't. Not before..." Inoichi trailed off.

Genma stared at him. "I see."

"Do you think she'd like these?" Inoichi quietly asked, eyeing Genma from the corner of his eyes.

Genma stared down at the flowers. Tulips. "Yeah. I think she'd like 'em."

Inoichi nodded and set them down right next to the small bouquet of yellow acacia and daises. He added a small card next to the flowers.

"What's the card say?" Genma reached out to pick it up.

"That's between her and me," Inoichi reprimanded. Genma's hand stopped right as it reached the card. His hand hovered for a second then retracted back to his side.

"I see." Genma muttered. "I'll put the word out. No touching the cards."

"Thanks," Inoichi nodded. He stared at the flowers for a minute more, then turned on his heel and left.

Genma stared after him. Then his stare drifted down to the flowers. "If there's a chance you're still alive, Arashi, please, _please_ come home."

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"-and then! He just sat there! Like it's an everyday occurrence to have divorce papers shoved in his face! Who does that?!" Yoshino gushed, gesturing wildly with her arms while keeping her legs still.

"Must've shocked him real bad," I hummed, focusing on inking the face of a roaring panther on her calf.

"He pisses me off so bad! I knew he was cheating on me with his best friend, but I never suspected there was a woman in on it too." She complained. "He says it was only once, but I doubt that. Shikaku's not a one-time-thing type of guy."

"He'd really do that?" I briefly glanced at her face. It was contorted into a pained grimace. (I ignored how much I knew he'd actually do what he was being accused of. My ears were burning with just the reminder of what we'd done.)

"Yeah. Apparently. It came out during the divorce. That's the whole reason the divorce was even approved. Infidelity." She sighed. "I just wish I had seen it sooner, y'know?"

"Do you think it would've made a difference? Knowing sooner, I mean?"

"No. I don't think so. It's just that I really thought we were turning a new page when I found lipstick on his underwear. Some new page, huh?" Her voice came out in a strangled whisper. "Want to know the real kicker?" She asked louder.

"Hm?" I concentrated half on her words and half on the paws of the panther.

"I know the girl he slept with. She'd come by every so often with paperwork for him. I'd just wave her in and she'd go to his office. Sometimes she'd stay for dinner. It never occurred to me that they were doing _that_ in our home. I bet they were doing it all just to see if they could. I should've seen it sooner." She groaned. She covered her face with her hands, her whole body shaking slightly.

I paused in inking, leaning back to admire how much I'd inked in already while trying to come up with a way to respond to that (without giving myself away- I did not want a raging Yoshino on my ass).

"Why her? Why not someone else?" I was curious to see how far Yoshino thought the affair between Shikaku, Inoichi, and I went. (To say I was feeling awkward was an understatement.)

"She's younger. Probably more flexible. More open to new and weird positions. Less likely to say no, I guess." Yoshino-san quietly murmured. She sighed again. "Everything that's not me," she barely breathed.

"Who is this girl? Should I deny her service?" I asked, curious as to what she'd say. (I pretended not to know it was me.)

"Arashi. No family name. Just Arashi. And no, you can give her a tattoo. She'll probably want something silly like a butterfly behind her ear." Yoshino glanced at me. (I tried not to take offence at that.) "She kind of looks like you but with shorter hair." Her eyes narrowed. "Your name's not Arashi, is it?" She accused.

A bark of surprised laughter escaped past my lips. How funny it was _she'd_ be the first to notice it. But I had my cover to keep so I shook my head no. "Oh, no! My name is Mai."

She slowly nodded. "Yeah. 'Course you can't be her. You're too tan, and your hair's too light. And she's supposedly six feet under. Sorry for accusing you." Her eyes turned downwards. "That panther is really coming along, isn't she?"

I nodded, getting back into the groove of inking. I was about halfway done with the torso. " _Just a little longer then I'll be free of her. Only gotta endure this awkwardness for a little longer,_ " I thought to myself.

"Mai!" Came the shouted greeting. (Thank the gods for some intervention in this awkward fest.)

Glancing around, I saw Kankuro waving his hand at me. "Kankuro!"

"Almost done, huh?" He peered down at the half-done panther. "Feisty cat for a feisty woman."

I blinked in surprise. "You two know each other?"

Yoshino nodded. "His sister is dating my son. I hear about Kankuro on occasion from Shikamaru."

"Yeah, what she said," Kankuro agreed. He turned to me, then. "Would you be interested in going to the Exams with me? They've opened the seating to the public so we should go soon to get good seats."

"Well, I need to finish this first," I told him, gesturing to the panther.

Yoshino chuckled, nodding. "I'd prefer if she finished it before going anywhere."

"Oh, eheheh, yeah." Kankuro rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I'll just hang out here until you're done, yeah?"

Nodding, I went back to work. I tuned out the conversation around me (who knew Yoshino and Kankuro would even willingly start a conversation in the first place?) and focused on finishing the panther.

Soon enough, I was inking the tip of the tail. Wiping away the blood, I leaned back. "Welp, looks like that's it." I shook out my wrist.

Yoshino leaned over. "It looks brilliant!"

"Amazing work, as always," Kankuro praised. I beamed up at him.

Yoshino watched us. "Looks like you two are close. Are you involved?"

I blanched. "What?! No! We're just friends! Right?" I turned to Kankuro for reaffirmation of us just being friends. He, however, had a serious expression on his face.

"Actually..." He paused, deep in thought. "Yeah, we're just friends." His shoulders slumped. I couldn't tell if it was in relief or disappointment, though.

"I see," Yoshino said, closely watching us. "If you say so."

I nodded vigorously while Kankuro slowly nodded.

"How much do I owe you?" Yoshino asked instead of continuing to grill us. I sighed in relief.

After I told her how much, she happily paid, then bid us goodbye. I was pleased she seemed to like it so much. (I could only hope she'd like it as much after she learned - if ever - about who I really was. I had the feeling she'd burn it off once it became known I was actually Arashi. I shuddered at the thought.)

"Soooo," Kankuro began. "Want to go watch the Exams with me?"

Shaking out my wrist, I stood and put away my inking supplies. "I actually have something I need to do. Can we go out for dinner?" I gave him my best puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, okay. We'll meet at the hotel?" He offered.

Nodding, I smiled. "Sounds good. See you then." I waved at him before locking up my tattooing stall. Walking out into the middle of the street, I disappeared into the crowd.

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Finding my old workplace was a cinch. Not much had changed in two years. I stared up at the outside of the building for a second before walking in. There was no receptionist today. Slightly odd, but with the Exams happening, it was likely they were pulling everyone to help with it. Just meant no one was there to stop me from walking into my old office space and finding my old desk.

It was covered in flowers and cards. It caught me off-guard. "Just who are all these from?" I whispered to myself, stopping right next to my desk. Lots of bouquets had small yellow blossoms and tulips. The freshest looking bouquet had red roses and pink carnations. I picked out the card from it.

"We miss you. Inoichi." I read aloud. Oh. _Oh._ "Are all these from Inoichi?" I wondered, glancing over all the flowers. I wondered what many of these flowers even meant. I put the card down onto the desk and picked up a different card. It said 'Missing you' on the front. Opening it, it read 'Miss seeing your cheerful smile.' It was unsigned, but I figured it was from someone in the department.

So focused on the desk in front of me, I didn't notice someone walking by the office and stopping in the doorway.

"A bit lost, aren't you?" Came a sultry deep voice from behind me. I dropped the card carelessly back onto the desk.

I paused, barely breathing. I _knew_ that voice! Slowly I turned my head to look over my shoulder.

He was as handsome as he ever was. Two years hadn't changed much. His face seemed a bit more scruffier than the last time I had seen him, but that was the only change.

"Not anymore," I answered with a small smile.

He reared back in surprise. "A-A-Arashi?"

"Hello, Shikaku," I greeted. My smile grew.

"Are you real?" He walked towards me with his hands outreached. His fingers slowly caressed my cheek. "It _is_ you." He whispered. His eyes were suspiciously wet. Then his arms enveloped me and crushed me to his chest. "Thank fuck, you're alive."

"I-I-I'm home," I stuttered, grasping onto his vest with clenched fists. "I'm _home_."

He pulled back slowly. "How? How did you survive?" His eyes searched mine.

"I almost didn't." I finally said.

"What happened, Arashi? We know you were kidnapped, but that's it."

"Kumo-nin found me after... after I was kidnapped and t-tortured." I took a deep breath. "I told them I was from A-Ame. Just some unknown civilian caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't know why they believed it." I cried into his shoulder. "But they let me stay in Kumo while I recovered. I told them I was named Mai and I stayed in Kumo as an apprentice to a tattoo artist. Kumo is really big on tattoos."

"Kumo didn't send any teams to these Exams. How'd you get here? Did they figure out who you are?" He asked me gently but urgently, needing to know if the village could expect an attack.

"No. Nothing like that. About a year ago, I was sent to Suna to expand the tattooing business. Not sure why, though. Sunans don't like tattoos much. But the Kazekage invited me to join the contingent coming to Konoha. I'm here as part of the Suna business caravan. No one knows I'm Arashi." I reported into his shoulder, my tears drying on my cheeks.

"Good. That's good." He pushed my hair back away from my face. "I'm glad you're okay, Arashi. I'm so glad." His lips lightly brushed against my forehead. "We're going to go find Ibiki and start the vetting process to bring you back into our fold."

I nodded against his neck, happy to be home finally. "Okay."

He led me from the office and down the hall to an interrogation cell. "Wait here while I go get Ibiki. We'll get you sorted out. Properly." He pressed another kiss to my forehead before leaving.

Five minutes later, the cell door opened and in walked Ibiki. I perked up upon seeing him. "Hello, Ibiki."

He nodded at me. "We'll make this quick. I just need to know what happened, where you've been, and what you've been doing. Are you ready?"

"Yes." I nodded, then began my tale. I left nothing out. I even told him about tattooing Yoshino and how she had nearly found me out, had I not denied my identity. By the end, my throat was raw from how much talking I had done.

"That should cover everything. It's good to have you back, Arashi," Ibiki told me, collecting the papers with my statements together. "We're going to bring this to Tsunade's attention. She just needs to sign off on this." He stood and held out a hand to me. "Well? You coming?"

Smiling, I grabbed his hand. He pulled me to my feet. "Let's go."

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"Shikaku. Ibiki. What are you doing?" Tsunade glanced at me from the corner of her eyes.

"We're here on behalf of Arashi. We want to reinstate her into our forces." Ibiki drawled, glancing over at me.

"Arashi?" She glanced at me with interest. "The same Arashi you got a divorce over, Shikaku?"

I shrunk back slightly and lowered my eyes. I had a feeling that piece of information was going to stick around for awhile.

"She is." Shikaku affirmed. His eyes narrowed. "Will that be a problem?"

Tsunade waved him off. "I just wanted to see what type of woman caught your interest away from your then wife." Her eyes scrutinized me. I didn't know whether I wanted to stand up straighter or shy away. I was sure I was stuck with a deer-in-headlights look. (How unattractive.) "Well? Where have you been?"

"Short version or long version?" I asked.

"Short version. I'm late to the Exams." She stood and began walking towards the doors.

"Kumo, then Suna, now Konoha." I shortened the tale to just those five words, smirking to myself.

She stopped, then slowly turned around to face me. "What."

I stared at her, my smirk dimming. (I was beginning to wonder if I needed to prepare to dodge.)

Her hand shot out towards Ibiki. "Give me those papers. Let's see what we have here." She returned to her desk and began reading the report.

It took her ten minutes to read through everything. She stared at me once she was done. "So Kumo?"

"Kinda rainy, really high up in the mountains. Lots of tattoos. Lots of them. It's like a rite of passage." I automatically snarked back.

Tsunade grinned, then cracked her knuckles. "And Suna?"

My smirk grew. "Hot and sandy. People don't like tattoos there. Lots of succulents, though. And Kankuro's funny."

Tsunade hmmed. "And Konoha?"

My smirk grew into a genuine smile. "Beautiful. Green. Lots of trees. Dunno if people here like tattoos. Friendly, though. It's home." I shrugged.

She smiled at me then. "Everything's in order." She stamped the top paper of the report. "Welcome home, Arashi."

"It's good to be home." I told her honestly.

"Now, get out of my office. We're late to the Exams!" With that she booted us out of her office and strode out into the busy halls. She took a turn somewhere along the hall and disappeared.

"Do you want to watch the Exams, Arashi?" Ibiki asked.

I shook my head no. "I really just want to crash somewhere and sleep."

Ibiki nodded, then saluted Shikaku. "I'll leave her in your capable hands."

"Thanks. See you tomorrow, Ibiki." Shikaku replied, waving goodbye as Ibiki walked off towards the Chuunin Exam arena. "Shall we go home?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I'd like that." I smiled up at him. He smiled back down at me. His hand brushed against mine as we walked to his clan compound. Nearly halfway to his home, his hand fully enveloped mine. My smile grew and I ducked my head to hide my reddening cheeks.

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Humming, he walked into the office. He made it all the way to her desk without anyone bothering him. He really should be at the Exams, watching the matches with the rest of the village, but he wanted to include Arashi in on the festivities. (Or he just wanted to tell her about what was happening in the village while the Exams were happening.)

He paused and frowned. Something was off. He studied her desk. Some of the bouquets were jostled and some of the cards had been moved. His frown deepened. Who would disturb this shrine?

He looked around but found the office empty. He recalled seeing no one on his way in as well. He knew most of the department had been warned not to disturb this desk. And he knew most people respected that. But the few people who would disturb this were currently stuck working security at the Exams. So then who was it?

Inoichi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Whoever it was knew how to dodge detection. He'd have to ask Shikaku or Ibiki about who it could've been. With that decided, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the office, determined to find one of those two to see if they knew anything about this.

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"You don't sleep in your room?" I asked confused when Shikaku led me to the guest bedroom. It looked more lived in than the last time I had seen it (it had been barely decorated then).

"This is my room now. Especially since the divorce," Shikaku explained softly. His face pinched at the mention of the divorce.

"Oh." I didn't know what to say in the face of that. "I'm sorry."

"It didn't feel right sleeping in the room I shared with Yoshino," he murmured.

"Oh." I nodded. I gestured to the guest bedroom with my hand. "So... sleep?"

His lips quirked up a little bit. "Yeah." He walked into the room and settled down on the bed. His hand patted the spot next to him. "Come join me?"

My lips pulled back into a smile. "Sure." I followed him into the room. I stopped right in front of him. His hands settled on my hips and pulled me closer to him. My hands gripped his shoulders so I wouldn't lose my balance. "Just sleep?" I asked.

He smirked up at me. (That damned smirk is way too sexy to be legal.) "Is that what you want?"

Returning his smirk, I pushed his shoulders down onto the bed. Shifting slightly, I climbed on top of him, straddling his hips. Leaning down, I pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. His tongue languidly licked my bottom lip before slowly entering my mouth. My tongue tangled with his in a slow dance. Leaning back slightly, I stared into his eyes. They were dark and fathomless. Exactly the way I liked them.

He was still smirking up at me. "See something you like, sweetheart?"

"Yes," I whispered huskily into his ear. My tongue licked up his ear before I nibbled on his earlobe. The responding breathy moan sent thrills down my spine.

I placed soft kisses down his neck until his shirt stopped my downward descent. Instead of moving his shirt out of the way, I took my time kissing my way back up to his ear.

His hands skimmed up my sides only to stop just under my breasts where his thumbs caressed my breasts gently. Enjoying the sensation, my back arched to place my breasts more fully into his hands. His name fell from my lips in a soft mewl.

His lips found mine, and he pulled me into another languid kiss. His hands left my breasts to travel downwards to my hips. His thumbs gently pressed circles into my skin where my shirt had ridden up. When he pulled back from the kiss, I leaned forward to capture his lips again. Pressing soft kisses to his lips, I caressed his cheeks.

"Arashi," he started, a chuckle in his voice. "I thought you wanted sleep?"

A whine escaped me. "I do. I just also really want you."

His smirk grew. In a quick movement, he switched our positions and had me pinned underneath him. "I want you, too," he whispered. His mouth found the spot where my shoulder met my neck and sucked on the skin there. He shifted his hips away from mine. "As much as I want this, I think tonight we need sleep more." He whispered, careful not to hurt me.

A small whimper left me, but I nodded. "There's always tomorrow?" I asked hopefully.

He smiled at me. "That's right. There's always tomorrow." He leaned to the side and slid off of me. Before I could go anywhere, he grabbed my hips and pulled me flush to him. Chuckling, I squirmed into his embrace. He groaned softly behind me. "Arashi, please."

I smiled. "Couldn't resist, sorry." I turned my head towards his and gave him one last kiss. "Good night, Shikaku."

"Good night, Arashi," he replied, tightening his hold on me and pressing a gentle kiss to the top of my head. With one last snuggle into his embrace, I closed my eyes and promptly fell asleep.

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"I'm telling you! She wouldn't just miss out on something like this! Something must've happened to her! We need to do something!" Kankuro yelled, hands gesturing wildly.

Gaara sat quietly, thinking it over. It was possible she forgot about dinner and got held up somewhere. When he said as much, however, Kankuro vigorously shook his head no.

"She wouldn't do that. She doesn't have many friends- especially here. Who would she even go out with?" Kankuro argued.

"Maybe that thing she had to do ran long?" Temari piped in, not wanting to argue with her brothers about a possibly missing woman.

"Yeah... Maybe..." Kankuro conceded.

Gaara hmmed. "Perhaps the Hokage could send out a search team."

"Why? If she's not missing, that's kind of overkill, isn't it?" Temari brought up.

"She is Kankuro's friend. I would rather help and not need it than not help and have her in trouble." Gaara argued back. Temari sighed, knowing she'd lost this one.

"Should we wait until morning to bring this to the Hokage's attention?" She asked.

Gaara stared at Kankuro. He was hunched in on himself with his arms wrapped around his chest as if he was holding himself together. "No. We ask now."

Temari nodded and stood. "I'll ask Shikamaru if he's seen anything."

"Thanks, guys," Kankuro sincerely said quietly. Temari and Gaara both nodded before they all left their hotel room. They parted ways at the hotel's entrance. Gaara and Kankuro left to go to the Hokage's office, while Temari left to hunt down Shikamaru.

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"Dad!" Shikamaru called up the stairs. "Dad!" When there was no answer, Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome." He trudged up the stairs and stopped outside the room his dad had taken up sleeping in since the divorce all those months ago. (It didn't make sense to him why his dad refused to sleep in the master, but it was too troublesome to figure it out.)

He knocked on the door. "Dad! You're late for a meeting!" (He refused to think about how this was what his mom would do before she left.) "Hey! You in there?" He pushed open the door. Immediately he realized his father was not alone in his bed. Groaning, he stepped into the room. "Again? Inoichi should just move in at this rate." He pulled the comforter off the bed. (Again, he refused to think about how this was very similar to how his mom used to do things.) And his brain sort of short-circuited. That was not the expected blond tangled mess on the pillow next to his father's face. Nor was that the expected male back lying next to his father. Reeling back, Shikamaru shielded his eyes. He did _not_ need to see which woman it was his father had taken to bed. "Sorry!" He called out as he backpedaled his way out of the room before he shut the door behind him. He groaned quietly into his hands. "First mom, now Inoichi? How many times are you going to cheat before you're happy?"

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"Shikamaru!"

He stopped and glanced up the street. "Oh, hey, Temari."

"Have you seen Mai anywhere?" Temari asked between panting breaths.

"Who?"

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know her." Temari paused, catching her breath. "She's about my height, light brown hair, hazel eyes, civilian. Seen anyone like that?"

Shikamaru hmmed while he thought about it. For some reason his mind kept going back to the unknown woman in his father's bed. "Maybe. I never saw her face and I don't know how tall she is, but my dad- well, he had... ugh, why is this so hard to say?" Shikamaru took a moment to collect himself. Temari waited patiently, curiosity plain in her eyes. "My dad had a woman over last night and she stayed the night. I only found out this morning, but she had light brown hair. It went down to her shoulders." He shifted from one foot to the other uneasily. "That's all I know."

Temari hmmed quietly, then scrutinized Shikamaru. He didn't seem like he was lying. So she nodded slowly. "It's possible, then. Well, shit."

"What's the problem? Is she a threat?" He asked, mind already going through possibilities.

"No, it's nothing like that." Temari reassured. "It's just that she was supposed to meet Kankuro last night for dinner but she never showed."

"You think my dad's new girlfriend is Kankuro's friend?" Shikamaru was surprised. He didn't think his dad would steal someone else's girlfriend. (He was learning new things about his dad he never thought he'd learn- his dad really knew how ruin people's lives with his cheating ways.)

"Yeah. It's possible. This is going to destroy Kankuro. He's had a crush on her since he first saw her," Temari said, her shoulders drooping with the thought that she now had the duty to tell her brother what she'd found out. "She's a tattoo artist. I don't know what type of tattoo Kankuro got, but he won't stop singing her praises whenever tattoos come up in conversation."

Shikamaru hmmed. "Troublesome."

Temari nodded. "Thanks, Shikamaru. I need to go tell Kankuro this. At least now the Hokage can stop sending search parties out looking for her."

"Is that what all the fuss is about?" He gestured to the panicked looking shinobi searching all over the village. One in particular was looking through a garbage bin. Why any civilian would hide in a garbage bin- he stopped the thought right there. He knew several reasons why a civilian might find themselves in a garbage bin and none of them were good.

"Yeah. Your father was supposed to help put teams together or something, but he never showed. Any chance he's still sleeping?" She asked, watching the shinobi deal with the garbage bin.

"Probably still is. Tsunade's going to have his head for this stunt."

"Yeah. I should go deliver the news. Want to come with me?" She turned hopeful eyes on him.

"Troublesome," he muttered, but he turned down the street and started walking towards the Hokage tower. Temari quickly fell into step beside him. It was a quiet walk while both of them were trying to figure out a good way of breaking this news to both Kankuro and the Hokage.

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"I thought she was bad at making friends. Much less finding someone to sleep with," Kankuro complained quietly to himself. His shoulders were slumped and hunched in on himself. The news that Mai was possibly now sleeping with Shikamaru's father left a bad taste in his mouth. She was supposed to be shy. Sweet but shy. Not debilitating shy like Hinata, but in a way only a civilian could be. But now? It seemed he didn't know her at all.

"We don't know if the woman involved with Shikaku is Mai," Gaara told his brother. He had a feeling it was, but without any evidence of it, he was willing to give the benefit of the doubt to her.

"But-!" Kankuro started only to stop when the door to the Hokage's office burst open.

"Shikaku. How nice of you to finally join us," Tsunade snarked over her folded hands.

"Tsunade, Kazekage," Shikaku greeted and bowed. He spied his son and the Suna siblings standing off to the side. "What do you need me for?"

"Who's the woman you slept with last night?" Tsunade cut to the chase. She had an idea about who it was already, but she was relishing the chance to make her Jounin Commander squirm.

Shikaku hesitated. Did he want everyone to know that? Was he ready for everyone to know? (He was squirming on the inside.)

"Well?" Tsunade prompted. Kankuro was watching Shikaku like a wounded animal eyed free food. That did not escape his notice.

"Arashi. I was with Arashi last night," Shikaku finally declared quietly. Tsunade nodded, smiling in approval.

"As I thought." She turned to Gaara. "I'm sorry, but it seems Mai is still missing."

Gaara stared at her. His gut was saying Mai wasn't as lost as she seemed, but he had no evidence to back that thought up. And he didn't want to put Kankuro through the pain of Mai being this 'Arashi' person. "Leave us." He announced suddenly.

Kankuro and Temari startled, then turned to him as one. "What? Why?"

"I wish to speak with the Hokage alone." Gaara explained. Temari and Kankuro glanced at each other before following their younger brother's demand and left the office.

Shikamaru and Shikaku both hesitated. Tsunade stared at Gaara. She nodded at them to go. They closed the door as they left. Shikaku gave Tsunade a significant look right before the door shut. Tsunade ignored it in favor of assessing the Kazekage in front of her.

Tsunade and Gaara stared at each other for awhile, neither saying anything.

"Who is Mai?" Gaara asked finally.

"A civilian travelling with your business caravan, as far as I know," Tsunade replied, not giving anything away.

Gaara blinked slowly. "Will Mai be travelling back to Suna?" His hunches hadn't been wrong before, but he only hoped this was the first time for it to be so.

"No. She will not." Tsunade admitted.

Gaara closed his eyes. It seemed as though his hunch was correct; there was more to Mai than they had realized. "Is she a spy on Suna?"

"No."

"I see." Gaara inhaled slowly, held it, then released it. "Was she a spy in Kumo?"

"No." Tsunade replied simply. At least he didn't have to worry about a spy or starting a war over this.

"Then what is she?"

"A lost soul trying to find her way home," Tsunade finally admitted. That told him more than he thought he'd get from the stubborn Hokage. 'Mai' most likely wasn't her actual name, she wasn't a spy, and she was actually from Konoha.

Gaara hmmed. "Can we break her cover?"

"I'd prefer not, in the event Kumo hears about it," Tsunade explained.

Gaara nodded. That was sensible. "I'll tell Kankuro she left Konoha to return to Ame."

Tsunade nodded. "You have my thanks."

Gaara turned to leave, but paused before he made it to the door. "Will she be taken care of here?" He may not have known her long, but he didn't wish any ill will against her.

Tsunade smirked. "Yes. I believe she will be."

Gaara hmmed again knowing he'd get nothing else out of the Hokage, opened the door, and then walked out, leaving the Hokage alone to her thoughts.

Tsunade sighed. She did not envy Gaara's task of telling his brother about 'Mai'. She only hoped he would take it with grace and not demand to go looking for her.

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I wasn't sure where I would put all the flowers and cards yet, but I was tidying up my old desk anyway. Ibiki had adamantly reassured me that I still had a job even with my new limp. Turned out I'd be a desk-nin now instead of going out into the field, which suited me just fine. I wasn't sure I was ready for another field assignment. I felt like I was still healing from the last one. (I didn't want to admit I probably needed therapy.)

My hands were shaking, but I ignored it as one card caught my attention. 'I know you're gone, but I find myself missing you more and more every day. If only we had more time to get to know each other more and become better acquainted- I wish for that very much. I wish you weren't dead. I wish you were still here where I could keep you safe.' There was another line but it was scratched out and I couldn't make out the words. Sighing, I put it in the 'to-keep' pile. It was the last of the cards that I would keep. I gathered up all of the other cards (most were just missing you cards from coworkers) and dumped them into a box. It'd go in the trash later. Gathering the 'to-keep' pile together, I opened the bottom drawer in my desk and gently placed them inside.

"Arashi! Is that really you?!" A voice came from behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, Genma came into view.

"Yeah, it's really me," I told him, slowly getting to my feet.

He quickly walked beside my desk and pulled me into a tight hug. "You wouldn't believe how bleak this place was without you here."

"Really? Even with all the flowers brightening the place up?"

"Yeah. They kinda made it more obvious that you weren't around." He shifted uneasily on his feet making us sway. He pulled back and stared into my eyes. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Glad to be home finally. I can't believe it took this long for me to find my way home again."

He gave a weak chuckle. "The bosses know you're back?"

"Most of them, yeah." I stepped back towards my chair. Settling back down onto it, I flashed him a snarky smile.

"Oho? Who's the left one out?" His lips quirked up into a matching smile.

"Two guesses who," I cheekily replied.

"Genma! Interrogation cell number two! Medium use!" Ibiki's voice boomed overhead.

"Have fun, Genma!" I waved at him as he turned to leave.

"I'll find out soon enough, Arashi," he said right before he left the office.

"I know," I muttered to myself, returning to figuring out where to put the flowers now that the cards had been dealt with.

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Massaging my thigh was proving to be a sufficient distraction from my work. I was wearing the T&I uniform so no one could see my scars, but with the way I kept massaging the one thigh, it was probably obvious I had an old injury.

"You okay?" The guy sitting at the desk next to me asked. He gazed down at my thigh before staring me in the eyes.

"Yeah. Just think it's gonna rain soon. Always hurts whenever it rains," I explained quietly.

He hummed in response, then pulled open his top drawer. Curious, I watched him rustle around for a minute before he found what he was looking for. "Aha! There they are!" He tossed a small bottle to me. "Pain killers. Might help with the aches."

I glanced down at the bottle. "Thanks." I opened the bottle and popped out a pill, then re-screwed the lid on and handed the bottle back to him. Taking a swig from my water bottle, I swallowed the pill. "Hopefully it kicks in soon."

He nodded at me, shoved the bottle back into his drawer, and returned to his work.

Massaging my thigh, again, I followed his example and returned to decoding a missive from Suna. After finishing decoding it, I sat back in my chair. It creaked noisily. The code had worked, but the message was jumbled. Either I had used the wrong code or it needed multiple decodings. I quietly groaned. I pulled out another decoding key and decided to rework the original message with a new code. Hopefully this time the decoding process worked.

It didn't. It left me with another jumbled message. Groaning to myself, I leaned back in my chair. _"Maybe Shikaku can figure this one out?"_ I thought to myself while gathering the coded and decoded messages together. Quickly I made my way out of the office and shuffled down the hall to Shikaku's office.

"Sir?" I asked as I knocked on the open door.

"Come in," he called out.

"I'm having trouble decoding this one, sir. Thought maybe you'd have better luck?" I told him as I walked into his office.

Shikaku glanced up at me briefly before finishing whatever he was writing. "Is this message from Suna?"

"Yes, sir." I nodded, handing the papers over. He looked them over quickly before sighing.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Arashi. I'll see that this gets filed properly." He dismissed me.

Hesitating, I opened my mouth, "What does it say, sir?"

"Nothing of import, I promise you," he dryly retorted. He glanced up at me and sighed again. "Someone got drunk and decided to send us missives about some woman they were trying to hook up with. Tsunade and Naruto are trying to figure out how to politely tell them not to do such a thing again."

"Oh. That sounds like someone's having a bad day." I scratched the back of my neck. "Any idea who it was that got drunk?"

"I have my bets it was the Kazekage's brother. He's been sending missives asking after Mai every so often." He explained.

"Kankuro? But wasn't the drunk looking to hook up with some woman?" I asked, confused.

"This missive mentions Mai by name." He gestured to the coded paper I had brought him. (How had I missed that?) "Ergo, Kankuro was the most likely culprit." He peered at me. "I'm sorry, Arashi, it seems like he's not going to let Mai go."

My shoulders slumped. "Yeah, he really likes her."

"Do you..." He started.

"Hm?"

"Do you want to go back and be with him?" Shikaku's eyes refused to look at me.

"What? No." I started. "No. While being Mai was okay, I don't miss civilian life. And I'd miss Konoha too much. No, I'm quite happy being myself again." I walked around his desk, put my finger under his chin, and pushed his face upwards so I could look straight into his eyes. "I'd miss you too much, so no, Shikaku, I don't want to go back to Suna."

His eyes widened and his cheeks reddened. "Good. That's- Good."

I leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. "I am sorry we have to decode all these drunk missives, though."

He chuckled. "It gives us something to do, lest we find something else to do instead." His gaze stopped on my lips. He leaned forward and captured my lips in another chaste kiss.

"Ahem," came a quiet cough from the doorway. We both looked over. Ibiki stood with his arms crossed. "We have work to do still, so leave your flirting to outside of work."

My shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yes, sir," I whined. Shikaku, the devil, just chuckled.

"See you later, Arashi," he told me quietly before I left the office. I nodded and gave him a small smile.

"See you." I ducked my head down as I walked around Ibiki and walked back to my desk.

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_"Tell us who you are!" He yelled into my face. Wincing, I took care not to say anything. A stab into my gut was the frustrated response of my captor. He really did not care for my continued silence. "Tell us and we will stop this." He tried to reason. I had no doubt that should I answer anything, they were going to kill me. So I stayed quiet, but internally, I was screaming with every stab, slice, gash, and bruise they issued me._

_"Where are you from, bitch?!" Another stab across my gut._

_"How did you find us?!" A punch across my cheekbone._

_"Who sent-"_

I jolted awake. Sweat was beading on my forehead. Glancing around I realized I was still in the office. _"Did I fall asleep?"_ I wondered to myself.

The clock chimed right then. Ten o'clock. I was here late. Again. Yawning, I slowly stretched my arms above my head. _"Probably should head home,"_ I told myself. _"But I don't wanna be alone. That dream was too real... Maybe Shikaku is home by now?"_

Stopping by his office on my way out, I noticed Shikaku was indeed not in the office. Figuring it wouldn't hurt to check his home, I quickly made my way out of the T&I building and walked to the Nara Clan compound.

The guard at the entrance waved me through with a quiet "he's playing shogi." Nodding my thanks, I walked past the front entrance and went around to the side entrance. There, sitting on the side patio, were Shikaku playing shogi against his fellow clan member, Ensui. Shikamaru was lounging off to the side, a book laying haphazardly in his lap.

Not wanting to disturb them, I waited until Shikaku had ended his turn before I quietly and carefully crawled into his lap. He leaned back a bit while I sat across his lap with my face squashed into the crook of his neck.

"Arashi?" His voice rumbled under my cheek. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer.

"Had a nightmare," I mumbled. "Don't wanna talk about it." I snuggled more firmly into his embrace. My lips softly brushed against his jugular.

He hmmed in response, but kept his arms wrapped around me. He played a few more turns before one of his hands started gently rubbing circles up and down my back.

He and Ensui continued their game while I snuggled into Shikaku's embrace. Shikamaru yawned and muttered a quiet "troublesome" and shifted away from the scene, deigning to face the wall rather than watch his father cuddle with me.

Every other turn, I pressed light kisses into the crook of Shikaku's neck. Once, I even gently nipped at him. Soft laughter rose from his chest at that. Soon, though, listening to the game pieces clank onto the board lulled me into a light snooze. It felt like only two blinks had passed before Shikaku was whispering my name into my ear while shifting his feet underneath us.

"Hmm?" I blearily blinked up at him. His arms shifted around me; sliding one arm underneath my knees and wrapping the other more firmly around my shoulders. My hands automatically wrapped around his neck when he stood.

"Let's get you into bed, yeah?" He pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead, then he began the short walk to his room. My eyes closed and I dozed in his arms.

The bed was soft where Shikaku gently laid me down. "Stay with me?" I asked him, voice heavy with sleep. I still did not want to be alone- not when that nightmare could return.

"Sure," he replied, his voice a deep rumble. He reached for his shirt and took it off, before he settled on the bed next to me. Reaching over, he pulled me into his chest where his arms wrapped around me and held me close.

Yawning, I snuggled into him, then fell back asleep with a small smile on my face.

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Sunlight warmed my cheek as I blinked awake. It took me a few moments to realize that the comfy pillow underneath my other cheek was actually Shikaku. His chest rose in tandem with his slow, deep breaths. _"He must still be asleep,"_ I figured to myself, turning my face upwards to watch his sleeping face.

My fingers lightly started to run patterns across his chest. The light dusting of dark hairs was soft under my fingers. They were even soft to my lips as I brushed my lips across his left pectoral muscle. Pressing gentle kisses to his pectoral, I let my hands wander across his stomach. The hairs gathered thicker just under his belly button and trailed lower into his pants. While still soft, those hairs were coarser. I dragged my fingers to and fro across them, fascinated with how the coarseness changed the lower I went.

"See something you like, sweetheart?" Came the sultry rumble. My hands stilled as my gaze shot upwards towards his face. His dark eyes were watching me.

"If I do, what are you gonna do about it?" Was my clever response. I pressed my lips to his pectoral, just shy of his nipple. "Will you watch me?" I pressed another kiss to the other side of his nipple. "Or will you stop me?" My eyes watched his expression.

"Arashi-"

Without waiting for him to finish that sentence, I took his nipple into my mouth. He inhaled sharply. My tongue lavished around his nipple before my teeth gently nipped down on his nipple. The groan rumbled through his chest.

My hands caressed through his stomach hair again as I pressed gentle kisses down his stomach. "Shikaku," I began, then hesitatingly asked, "may I touch you more intimately?"

His eyes fluttered open and gazed at me. "Yes, Arashi," he purred lowly. His fingers unbuttoned his pants before he started to shimmy out of them. I helped pull them off and gazed at him when he was just in his underwear. Then I crawled over him and pulled down his underwear. I sat back and just peered at him for a moment. He was well-endowed for a man (and he was only half-hard, I wondered what he'd look like when he was fully hard).

Leaning over him, my hands grasped onto his length and slowly began to stroke his member.

"Arashi, wait," Shikaku began, hands grabbing mine. I peered down at him in confusion. Didn't he want this? "Let me get some lube first."

My face cleared of any confusion. I had forgotten that men needed some lubricant before doing anything sexual. "Sorry."

"It's alright," he told me while his hand opened the night stand's drawer. "Ah. Here, use this." He handed a small bottle of lube to me. I took it gratefully before applying a small amount of lube along the length of his member. While setting the small bottle to the side, my hands returned to stroking his length. Remembering the last time I had my hands on him like this, I twisted my wrist at the top of his member. That brought out a gasp from Shikaku, and his member grew to be fully hardened.

His hand settled in my hair, bunching it up in his fist. "F-faster," he groaned softly. Nodding, I happily obliged, my hands pumping his member faster. Leaning over, I kissed the crest of his hip then followed the V down towards the base of his member.

His hips rolled upwards into my hands, trying to keep up with my pace. Grinning, I pressed more kisses trailing back up his V and bit the crest of his hip. Sucking on the skin there, I glanced up at Shikaku. His face was scrunched up in pleasure with his eyes tightly shut.

"H-h-harder," he moaned breathily.

"As you wish," I replied, enjoying watching him get closer to becoming undone. My hands gripped him tighter as I rubbed him more. My lips pressed open-mouthed kisses all the way up from his stomach to his neck. I found the sensitive skin under his ear and sucked on the skin there. Then, I sloppily left kisses on that spot. Leaning back, I gazed at it; already a small bruise was forming. _"Good, that'll leave a mark,"_ I thought to myself, grinning.

"Arashi! I-I need-!" Shikaku gasped, one hand spasming in the sheets and the other clutching my hair.

Grinning still, I pressed wet and sloppy kisses down his chest, down his stomach, and down his V. I gazed down at him again, watching as my hands pumped his member. "Beautiful," I whispered.

He whimpered. His eyes fluttered open, and he heatedly gazed down at me.

Smirking under that gaze, I brought my mouth to his member and slowly took him into my mouth. I languidly circled his tip with my tongue. His hips jerked upwards pushing his member more fully into my mouth. Moaning around him, my tongue licked down his shaft. Hollowing my cheeks as I leaned back, my hands gripped him tightly again. "You like that, baby?" I asked him.

He nodded with a moan.

"Good," I purred. I licked down his shaft again then circled his tip. I barely took him into my mouth again when his hips suddenly jerked upwards and his seed was coating the back of my throat. Swallowing hard, I glanced up at him. His eyes were screwed shut tightly and he was panting in pleasure.

"You called me baby," he said gruffly when he caught his breath. His eyes were still closed.

"Did you like that?" I asked, pressing a light kiss to his chest.

"Hmm. Yes," he answered. His eyes opened and peered down at me. His hand released my hair and caressed my cheek. "Call me baby again, and I'll come for you," he said saucily. His damned bedeviled smirk was back in play.

A matching smirk grew on my face. "I'll have to remember that for next time." I kissed his jaw. "Baby." I captured his lips with my own and bit down on his bottom lip.

He chuckled before his tongue reached out and licked my lips. Letting go of his lip, my tongue darted out and caressed his tongue. Our lips met again in a sloppy kiss.

"Good morning, Shikaku," I finally remembered to say.

He chuckled again, then pressed another kiss to my lips. "Good morning, sweetheart." His arms wrapped around me then pulled me close. "Time for a nap, what do you say?"

Laughing, I snuggled closer to him, pressing one last kiss to his shoulder. "Sure thing, baby."

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This was the third time Shikaku had arrived late this week. _"Is there something wrong?"_ Inoichi wondered to himself, watching Shikaku shuffle towards his office. He was slouching more than usual, although he had a bit of a spring to his steps. Inoichi straightened up and took a step to follow him. Only to pause in shock.

There was a bruise on Shikaku's neck- just under his ear. Wait- no, not a bruise. A _hickey._ Inoichi reeled back. He didn't remember leaving any hickeys in plain sight (especially not there)- so who-?

Realizing that Shikaku had found someone else to entertain himself with caused something deep in his heart to hurt. He didn't want to examine it too closely, so he quickly made his way to his own office and shut the door. Leaning against the shut door, Inoichi stared down at his hands. _"Why couldn't he be happy with just me?"_ His eyes shut tightly, and he took a few shuddering breaths before he slumped to the floor.

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A pounding on his door woke him up. _"When did I fall asleep?"_ He wondered, sitting up from his slump on the floor. _"Was that all a dream?"_ He thought about it and realized it was much too vivid to be a dream. Shikaku really did find someone else to be with. Groaning, he felt the creaks in his bones as he stood. Opening the door, he came face to face with none other than Shikaku. Shit. He didn't want to see Shikaku, much less talk to him.

"Shikaku," Inoichi greeted, leaning against his door.

"Inoichi," Shikaku started, his hands reaching out to grab Inoichi's hips. "I-"

"I'm busy, Shikaku. Some of us have work to do." Inoichi winced. While true, it had come out harsher than he was intending.

Shikaku's hands stilled, then dropped back down to his sides. "Is that so?" Shikaku's eyes roamed over Inoichi's office. It looked neat and organized as always- hardly any concern for falling behind in work. "Ino-"

"I need to get back to it. Maybe later?" Inoichi compromised, internally wincing. There was no way he'd actually do anything with Shikaku- not while he didn't know anything about Shikaku's new paramour. He straightened subtly. He could find out whoever it was and tell them Shikaku was already in a relationship. That'd get them to back off, hopefully. With his mind made up, he nodded to himself and shut the door in Shikaku's face. He hadn't been paying attention to what Shikaku was saying, and so he missed the pained expression on his face.

Shikaku stared at the door. This was the first time Inoichi had shut it on him mid-sentence. He found he didn't like that. Since Inoichi was adamant about work today, Shikaku, instead of bothering him further, stepped back. With a final glance at the shut door, he slowly shuffled back to his own office. _"Maybe he just needs a day to himself? I can tell him about Arashi later."_

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Inoichi growled to himself. This was the fourth time someone in the office had speculated about Shikaku's new love bites. Each day for the past week, he'd come in with new hickeys. Inoichi had hoped it was a one-time type of deal, but the evidence was pointing towards this becoming the new normal. As if that wasn't bad enough, however, the rumor was that it was Arashi that had captured Shikaku's attention. Which was just ridiculous. While it was true they both missed her, it was impossible to be her. She was dead, as Genma liked to remind him.

He closed his eyes in an attempt to reign himself in. This was not the time nor place to lose his temper. After a few calming breaths, he opened his eyes. Only to see Shikaku walking straight towards him. Instead of handling the situation like a grown man, Inoichi quickly turned on his heel and nearly fled from the main offices back to his own, where he slammed the door shut.

Silence reigned in the main offices for a moment as everyone turned to stare curiously at Shikaku. Shikaku, for his part, stood staring after Inoichi. This was the fifth time he had quickly disappeared from Shikaku's sight. _"This is becoming a problem... But how do I fix this?"_ Shikaku thought to himself while turning around and walking back to his own office. _"Maybe Arashi will know what to do?"_

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I sat dumbfounded on Shikaku's office couch. Inoichi was avoiding Shikaku? While I had no doubt about Shikaku's observations, it still struck me as odd. Why would Inoichi avoid Shikaku?

Glancing at Shikaku just proved how bothered by this he was. He looked a wreck- dark bags underneath his eyes, exhaustion lined his mouth. Seeing him like this bothered me. I needed to come up with something to make this right. But what?

With that thought still on my mind, I walked back to my desk. The week-old flowers swayed in the air conditioning. "Wait- flowers?" I muttered to myself, thinking it over. While it wouldn't fix whatever the problem was, it could help pave the way to get Shikaku and Inoichi talking. It could work! I jumped to my feet. "If anyone asks, tell them I'm out on a delivery!" I enthusiastically told my desk neighbor before darting out of the office area, down the hall, and out the front door.

Panting, I walked into Yamanaka Flowers. "I need a bouquet meaning 'I'm sorry'. Can you put something together for me?" I asked the girl working behind the desk. She smiled and nodded.

"Do you know which flowers you want?"

"Um. No. I figured I'd leave that to the experts," I told her. She smiled at me before walking around the store and picking out flowers.

"Do you want to only say I'm sorry or are you hoping for forgiveness as well?"

"OH! Um. I guess asking for forgiveness would be good." I fumbled with the hem of my shirt.

She nodded, and gathered fifteen roses in her hands, then she walked over to the orchids and picked a few of them, before she finally stopped in front of the tulips and picked one or two. "Are these to your liking?"

Red roses, white tulips, and white orchids. "They're perfect. Thank you!" I watched as she gathered and arranged the flowers into a beautiful bouquet. Then I quickly paid for them. Thanking her again, I gathered the flowers into my arms.

I got some interesting looks as I walked back to T&I (which I ignored them all). Shikaku stopped me as I walked by his office.

"Who are these for?" He asked curiously, lifting a finger to caress one of the roses.

"Inoichi. Figured he might enjoy getting some flowers for a change," I replied.

"He might." He nodded. "He's not in his office right now."

"Thanks," I said, shifting the flowers into one arm. "See you later?"

He nodded again, waving me aside. I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before walking down the hall towards Inoichi's office.

It was indeed empty when I arrived, so I placed the flowers directly in the middle of his desk. Nodding to myself, and hoping this worked, I walked back to my desk in the main office area.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inoichi walked into his office, eyes glued to the report in his hands. He sat down in his chair before looking at his desk. "Eh? Flowers?" He placed the report down beside the bouquet.

"Who'd get me flowers?" He wondered quietly, caressing the roses. He stared at the roses for a moment before counting them. Fifteen. " _That was one of those special numbers, wasn't it?"_ Inoichi thought about it for a few minutes. His eyes widened in realization. _"Fifteen roses means forgiveness! So that means..."_ He stared at the other flowers. "Someone's asking for forgiveness and that they're sorry..."

Standing, he gathered the bouquet into his arms. "There's only one person who'd be asking for forgiveness. Though... I never thought he'd send flowers..." he muttered to himself as he walked down the hall to Shikaku's office.

The door was shut. Inoichi raised a hand and knocked on the door. A minute passed before the door opened.

"Oh, Inoichi," Shikaku greeted lazily. His eyes lowered to the bouquet. "Did you... need something?" (He winced at how callous that sounded.)

"May I come in?" Inoichi asked, shifting from one foot to the other. His stomach churned in anxiety.

Shikaku opened the door further and gestured Inoichi in. "What's this about?"

Inoichi lifted the flowers in his arms. "I just wanted to say thank you for sending these. They're beautiful."

Shikaku stared. "Yeah, you are." His hand reached out and caressed Inoichi's cheek. "I've missed you, Inoichi."

Inoichi leaned into the touch. "I've missed you, too." He turned his face to place a gentle kiss to the inside of Shikaku's wrist. "Do you mean it?"

"Hm?" Shikaku hummed, unsure what exactly Inoichi meant.

"The flowers. Do you really mean it?" Inoichi peered up at Shikaku, watching his every move.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Inoichi. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Shikaku shifted uneasily on his feet.

Inoichi stepped closer to Shikaku. "Who is it? Who's been leaving hickeys on you?" Inoichi whispered into Shikaku's ear.

Shikaku shifted on his feet, again. "Inoichi... it's... well... it's a bit hard to believe," he stuttered.

"Try me," Inoichi challenged, leaning back while his hands gripped Shikaku's hips.

Shikaku opened his mouth to reply when a knock sounded on the door. They both turned towards the open door. Standing there with her eyes on the report in her hands was one still very much alive Arashi.

"A-A-Arashi?" Inoichi murmured in disbelief. He turned around to face Shikaku. "You knew?"

"Found out during the Chuunin Exams." Shikaku admitted, his shoulders hunching forward.

"And you didn't tell me? That was over a week ago!" Inoichi scolded. "I thought- I- you-" He ducked his head down and refused to look at anyone, already feeling the tears build up.

"Inoichi! We wanted to tell you!" Arashi softly exclaimed as she shut the door gently behind her then walked into the office. "It's just... you've been very busy this week. We haven't been able to get a word in." Arashi placed a hand on his shoulder.

Inoichi leaned into her touch, already craving for more. "Wait! So, it's been Arashi you've been seeing- who's been leaving all those hickeys? And everyone's been talking about it?" Inoichi groaned into his hands, already figuring out how clueless he'd been even with all the clues pointing towards it being Arashi who'd left those love bites.

"Yes," Shikaku confirmed, rubbing his hand up and down Inoichi's back.

"Oh," Inoichi whimpered. "I should've seen-"

"It's okay, Inoichi, I wouldn't have believed it either," Arashi cut in, wrapping her arms around his waist, and pulling him closer to her. She continued to whisper sweet nothings into his chest while Shikaku continued rubbing his back. Tears pricked his eyes as he gently wrapped his arms around Arashi.

"I'm so glad you're home, Arashi," Inoichi murmured into her hair.

"Me too," she replied, squeezing his waist. "Sorry it's taken me so long to tell you."

Inoichi huffed. "Sorry it's taken me this long to figure it out."

Shikaku stepped closer to the two and wrapped his arms around them both. "Will you forgive us?"

"Yes," Inoichi whispered firmly, glad to have both his lovers in the same room again.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tonight's the clans' get-together, right?" Arashi asked, peering up at Shikaku as he finished washing his hair.

"Yes," Shikaku confirmed. His fingers ran through his hair chasing away all the soap suds. "Do you want to attend?"

Arashi looked away and thought the offer over. This could be a good time to come out to the Akamichi and Yamanaka clans- let them know she was connected to Shikaku and Inoichi. She beamed up at Shikaku. "Yes, I'd like that."

Shikaku smiled before gathering some bodywash into his hands. "Here, let me wash your back."

Arashi's returning smile grew as she gathered her hair over one shoulder, baring her back to Shikaku's wandering hands.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ino's squeal was loud and shrill, like always whenever she was excited about something. Today, it was the fact that on her father's arms were Shikaku on one side and a young and beautiful woman on the other side. Shikamaru knew who she was already considering she'd been staying at the Nara Clan compound for the past few weeks. But this was Ino's first time seeing her. It seemed Ino already liked what she saw.

At least she didn't have to start off thinking her dad was cheating on his dad with some woman. _That_ had been an interesting conversation. But now he knew that his dad was with both of them. Who knew that that was all it took for his dad to be happy? Certainly made sense why his mom didn't fit- she'd never agree to such a thing. Ugh, he was thinking about this way too hard again. He sighed.

"I'm gonna go meet her!" Ino shrieked.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered quietly as Ino flounced across the yard to introduce herself to Arashi. From the excited chatter that drifted over, they were both happy to be acquainted.

Chouji opened a new bag of chips and watched from afar. "Is she nice?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru sighed.

"And Shikaku-oji really likes her?"

"Yeah."

"And Inoichi-oji really likes her?"

"Yeah."

"She's not going to leave them, right?"

"No, I don't think so. She seems as happy as they are."

Chouji nodded and continued to munch on his chips. "I'm glad."

"Me too."

Another squeal came from Ino across the yard as she gestured wildly about some story she was telling. Arashi nodded in the right moments and appeared to be paying attention to Ino, even though his dad and Inoichi-oji were having their own conversation to the side. Every other minute, however, both his dad and Inoichi-oji took turns rubbing their hands over Arashi's back and arms.

Shikamaru stared, realized he was staring, and then found himself thinking too hard about it. He sighed and wished he could have a cigarette (Ino would have his head if he started up his bad habit in front of Arashi. Troublesome).

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"Do you want to retire?" Shikaku asked, his hand on my lower back helped to keep me steady on my feet.

I had met so many new people. It was hard to keep track of all of them. But I had time, I could take my time in learning all of their names. Turning my head towards Shikaku's, I nodded up at him.

"Let's go this way. Less people on the way." He expertly led me away from the crowded yard, through the wrap-around porch, and into the house. It only took a few minutes to reach our room.

Inoichi followed behind us, but hovered near the door. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

"No. Just need a break," I told him honestly as I settled down onto the bed.

He nodded, his hands twisting in front of him. "I g-guess I'll just return to the party-"

"Inoichi," I interrupted him, staring up at him. "Please stay." I patted the bed in emphasis where I wanted him.

Inoichi blinked down at me in confusion.

"Best stay with us tonight, Inoichi," Shikaku piped up while grabbing Inoichi's hand and leading him to the bed.

"Y-you're sure? I won't get in the way?" Inoichi sounded very small and I absolutely hated it.

"We're sure, Inoichi. We want you in our life and in our bed." I reassured him firmly. "So. Please stay?"

Inoichi's shoulders hunched forwards and a quiet sob escaped him. "O-of course, I-I'll stay."

Both Shikaku and I smiled at him, before we both tugged him onto the bed.

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Groaning, Shikaku opened his eyes. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows. Turning his head away from the brightness, Shikaku caught sight of a sleeping Inoichi. Smiling, he reached over to capture Inoichi's lips in a gentle kiss.

Inoichi's eyelids fluttered. He was waking up. Shikaku's smile grew wider.

"Mornin' sunshine," Shikaku whispered.

"Morning." Came Inoichi's quiet murmur.

"Ready for round four?" Shikaku asked, already shifting to straddle Inoichi's slim hips. Only he didn't get to move very far. He looked down in surprise.

He saw a mop of brown hair and arms that loosely gripped his sides. Arashi. How had he forgotten the woman who'd made both him and Inoichi unexpectedly very happy? Shoving that thought away, Shikaku stroked her hair.

Inoichi chuckled quietly. "Seems we'll have to wait for that round four, hm?"

Shikaku groaned, then his breath hitched. Inoichi blinked at him in surprise at the sudden hitch.

"What? What is it?"

"She's waking up," Shikaku whimpered. Inoichi wasn't sure why that was a bad thing.

"Is that bad? I thought you wanted another round?"

"I do," Shikaku breathily moaned.

"So?"

"She's biting me!" Shikaku whined.

"Oh! That's... pfft-!" Inoichi began chuckling at Shikaku's expense.

Arashi's head lifted. "Good morning," she purred.

"Good morning, Arashi," Inoichi managed to get out before chuckling at Shikaku's tight expression.

"Your turn!" She announced before making her way over to Inoichi. She plopped down next to him and immediately kissed his neck. Inoichi's arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer while she gently nipped at his skin.

"Yes, Inoichi, your turn," Shikaku growled before peppering Inoichi with open-mouthed kisses down his torso.

"Shikaku! What-" Inoichi began.

"Round four starts now," Shikaku replied before taking Inoichi's throbbing member into his mouth.

Arashi, the little minx, just laughed and continued suckling at Inoichi's neck. (Though one hand did drift down to Shikaku's hair and started to pet it.)

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A few hours later, a knock came at the door.

"Dad!" Shikamaru's voice drifted through the door.

Shikaku made a 'hmming' grunt, too lazy to open the door (too lazy to get out of bed).

"Ibiki's at the door! He said something about Arashi missing work," Shikamaru told them. "He didn't seem to be in a forgiving mood."

Shikaku groaned. He'd forgotten that Arashi had an early morning at work that morning- that she was most definitely late to now. "Sorry Arashi. I forgot you had an early start today."

I giggled. "It's fine. But I guess it's time to get up..." I trailed off as I rolled over.

"Do we have to?" Came Inoichi's soft timbre.

"Only if you don't want Ibiki to come in here and stare at us until we get up," I said, ninety-nine percent sure Ibiki would actually do such a thing. "He'd probably judge us on our nakedness too."

"Knowing Ibiki, he most likely would judge us heavily for being naked when we should be working." Shikaku agreed, sitting up. Only to stop moving to watch me get dressed. His bedeviled smirk was back out to play as his eyes slid over to Inoichi.

Inoichi was too busy watching me pull my pants up to notice Shikaku watching him. He could get used to this- all night fun then watching his lover(s) get ready for the day in the morning.

Feeling their eyes on me, I turned and looked at them. "Behave or else I'll have to _punish_ you later." I told them with a smile.

"Oooh, the horror!"

"Be a shame if we just started early."

It was hard to tell which one said what, but the same glint in their eyes was enough warning for me to dodge their attempts at dragging me back to bed and instead open the door. "Sorry! Some of us have an angry boss to meet! See you tonight!" I told them while laughing.

Ibiki was less than thrilled to see my chipper self, but kept all comments to himself as we walked to T&I.

_Fin_

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think! :3


End file.
